


Sins of the Past

by Enraged_Erin



Series: Eternal Souls [4]
Category: Free Realms (Video Game), Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underlust (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underswap (Undertale), Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-01-27 08:42:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 32,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21389320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enraged_Erin/pseuds/Enraged_Erin
Summary: The RESET saved the world, but not everything was saved. With Dat gone from her life and raising Cherry alone, Zerrus continues to face her sins with a constant reminder.Cherry knows something is wrong, and she's determined to find out what.
Series: Eternal Souls [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/695427





	1. Deception/Investigation

Three years. It’s been three years since she made the decision to RESET. She promised him she wouldn’t, but when there was no choice, she accepted the consequences.

Staring at the TV with a blank stare, Zerrus sighed and rubbed at her eyes. The sound of the front door opening let her know that Cherry was home from school. “Hey Cherry. How was school?” Zerrus asked, leaning back into the couch and watching as Cherry plopped her backpack by the front door before it squeaked shut behind her.

“Same as usual, Mom.” She replied, moving towards the kitchen area. “Nothing new really happened. Just reviewing stuff.”

“Heh. Must be easy stuff for you given everything that happened.” Zerrus smirked. In the back of her mind though, she was beating herself up. Cherry was now 11 years old as of the current timeline, but her maturity is actually that of a 17-year-old due to the situation from prior to the RESET. For 6 years in the previous timeline, Zerrus was absent due to the actions of Error. During those 6 years, Cherry matured to a 14-year-old and became bitter. No RESET will change what she went through. While this was a second chance to raise her, she knew that Cherry was aware of the RESET. It was hard for her not to be given the traits she possessed and the lineage she descended from. As a result, she couldn’t change things and she knew that Cherry had some valid resentments.

“Yeah.” Cherry responded from the kitchen.

What was really bringing Zerrus down was she was so tired. Her magic felt almost tainted and unstable. Completely understandable given that she had to break her one moral code just to “save” the world. But what hurt her the most was that she had to ask her SOULMATE to do what was right.

_Knock knock._

“Hm. Come in! The door’s open!” she shouted to the door. The door creaked open. “Huh… gonna have to oil those hinges.”

“little risky to just tell people to come in like that.” spoke a familiar baritone. She didn’t even need to look at who came in to know which Sans it was.

“I really don’t wanna hear it, Red.” She grumbled out, rubbing her face and pinching the bridge of her nose. “What’s up?”

“well, fer one: ya look like shit.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.” She bristled, shooting a glare at him. “I certainly FEEL like shit. So, what brings you here?”

“well, boss was plannin’ on makin’ a special dinner tonight an’ he wants ya to come over.” Zerrus just stared blankly at him. “he’s been busy lately, doll. he feels like he hasn’t been gettin’ to know ya despite bein’ my soulmate an’ all.”

“Ah. Right. That… mess.” She stared at the floor, her eyes feeling heavy. A yawn escaped her before she could stop it. “Sorry.”

“ya been sleepin’? ya look like a damn skeleton!” She shot him a deadpan look, pushing herself off the couch and shuffling towards the supply closet by the staircase. She began searching around the shelves until she found what she was looking for; WD-40. Flicking the can into her hand from the shelf top, she scoots past Red and to the front door. She could feel his eyelights burning into the back of her head as she oiled the hinges, testing the door by wiggling it open and closed slightly and hearing no further squeaks. “doll.”

“Yeah?” she answered back, standing up and putting the can on the coffee table to deal with later.

“you ain’t sleepin’… are ya?”

“I’m an insomniac, Red. You know that.”

“true. but you’ve never looked this tired before. yer walkin’ around like a damn moldsmal!”

“Ohh thanks.” She shot a sly grin at him. She could feel it. There was a ping of worry coming from the Fell monster’s soul. There was a question he wanted to ask but was afraid to. “Look Red, I know you’re worried about me. You just gotta trust me. I can take care of myself.”

“it’s been hard on ya. hasn’t it?” he cracked out in a quiet whisper.

“Not as hard as you’d think.” She clapped her hands once, startling the edgy skeleton. “So! Edge wants to make a special dinner and we are invited, huh?”

“uh… yeah! that alright with ya, cherrypie?!” Red called out to Cherry, who was sitting in the kitchen, at the bar island, and nibbling on an apple. She paused mid-bite, her bright blueberry eyes looking up to the ceiling for a moment before looking back at Red.

“Yeah. That’s fine.” Cherry answered back, biting into her apple.

“she’s changed.” Red commented quietly, just enough only for Zerrus to hear.

“Yeah. She seems happier.” Zerrus added, sitting back down on the couch and settling into the cushions. “What time do you want us to come over?”

“’round 5 or 5:30.” Red turned to leave before stopping at the front door. “ya want me to come an’ pick ya up?”

Zerrus looked over to Cherry. “That’s ultimately up to you, Red. We should be fine coming over to you, though. What do you think?”

“I’m fine with whatever.”

“Well, there’s your answer. If you want to pick us up, you can.”

“alright. i’ll come an’ pick ya two up ‘round 4:30.” Zerrus looked over to the clock just beside the front door as Red left the house.

“Well, that gives us an hour or two to ourselves.” She spoke before pushing herself off the couch and grabbing the can of WD-40. “I’m gonna grease any squeaky hinges. That should kill some time. What do you plan on doing?”

“Probably just watch some shows.” Cherry answered back, tossing the apple core into the air and watching as the fruit landed smoothly into the trashcan.

“Nice.”

“I **aim** to please.” Zerrus stilled for a second, a not-so-subtle snort sneaking its way out of her nose.

“Sans has been quite the influence on you, hasn’t he?”

“What can I say, mom? He’s a **bone-ified** comedian.” A giggle this time, Cherry’s eyes sparkling with glee and a smirk drawing on her face.

“No denying that!” Zerrus laughed heartily as she started spraying the hinges either sticking or squeaking a bit too loudly. “Seriously though, you’re really cool with coming out and eating at Red and Edge’s place tonight?”

“Well, yeah. I haven’t really seen Uncle Edge in quite a while. I see Uncle Red often enough when I pass by the park.”

“Red goes to the park?” She was honestly taken aback by that. Red never seemed to be the kind of monster to sit in a public place aside from a Grillby’s or any other bar.

“Yeah. He and Uncle Sans sell hotdogs there sometimes.”

“Huh. I never knew that. About Red that is.” Cherry hopped off the kitchen barstool and flopped onto the couch, the cushions letting off a puff of air. “What do you plan on watching? I might join you.”

“Was about to watch some Kitchen Nightmares.”

“Heh. Heh heh. Not exactly a show meant for an 11-year-old.” Zerrus cackled slowly, shaking her head with a huge grin on her face. The slight glint of challenge in Cherry’s eyes caught her attention. “I ain’t gonna say no! I know you’re far more mature than your body is allowing you to be.”

“You’re the best, Mom.”

“Eh. I try.”

An hour passed by when Red came back, his teleport sound being heard just barely through the door. “Come in, Red!” Zerrus called out before he could knock. She heard him stun through the door, an ‘uh’ filtering through the wood. When he walked in, he looked at her with some surprise. “I knew you were coming over to get us. Don’t be so surprised.”

“so, you two are ready to go?” Red asked, leaning against the doorway.

“Well, I am. Not sure about Cherry though.” She tilted her head towards Cherry, who was sat on the floor and writing something in a notebook. She glanced up at Red before finishing what she was writing.

“I’m ready.” She stood up, dusting off the back of her pants and the pink shirt that had fallen past her butt.

“cool.” Red nodded as he turned to step on the front porch of the house with Zerrus and Cherry slowly following behind him. “ya wanna shortcut there, or do ya wanna walk?”

Zerrus and Cherry look at each other for a moment, silent communication between mother and daughter. “Dealer’s choice.” They both intoned at the same time. Red chuckled before planting an arm across Cherry’s shoulder and grabbing Zerrus’s hand, sending them soaring through the void for a brief moment before landing in front of what she recognized as an area between Briarwood and the Wilds. “Nice place for a house. It pretty much SCREAMS ‘the Fell Brothers live here’.”

“yeah. boss said that this place felt perfect. can’t say i blame him. plenty of fresh ingredients just a short way down the path an’ the farmers are willin’ to sell to monsters.”

Just as they approached the front porch, the door burst open, Zerrus jumping backward and stumbling to right her footing and Cherry turning into a red-haired statue. “AH, THERE YOU ARE.” Edge greeted, Zerrus’s heartbeat starting to settle from the sudden scare and Cherry slowly relaxing from her statuesque state. “COME ON IN.”

“Don’t have to ask me twice.” Cherry responded, shuffling up the 3 steps that lead into the house and disappearing inside. Just as Zerrus was about to follow, Red grabbed her shoulder.

“we need to talk.” Red spoke, his voice demanding her attention. She turned to look at him. “yer not foolin’ anyone, doll. not even yer kid.” A pause, the air around them seeming thick. “yer sufferin’ from somethin’ an’ ya don’t want anyone ta know.” He stepped up to her until he towered over her, his eyelights burning with intensity. “talk.”

“I don’t have to explain anything, Red. My problems-“

“aren’t mine? stop foolin’ yerself!” He pressed his skeletal hand on her chest, her SOUL pulsing weakly. “ya forget that i’m yer soulmate.” He grabbed the front of her shirt, slightly shaking her. “talk. i ain’t gonna ask again.”

Zerrus remained silent, staring at his eyelights.

“is it about dat?”

“I already told you. I’m fine with him being gone.”

“are ya really?”

“The divorce was mutual. I didn’t feel right holding him back from HIS soulmate. Who am I to remain married to my FRIEND when I found my soulmate and he hasn’t found his?” She grabbed his hand, yanking it off of her shirt. “I came to terms with it when I presented the papers. Not. Him.”

“but did ya ever think about cherry? how she must feel about it all?” Zerrus stilled, her breath catching in her throat before devolving into a growl. “sore nerve?” He snarked at her with a bared grin, projecting an air of power over her.

“How… DARE YOU?” she snarled, grabbing the fur of his hoodie and dragging him down to her level. “Do you really think I didn’t ASK HER how she felt about it?! She was the one who SUGGESTED IT.”

“what?” His eyelights blinked out, his dominating aura all but diminishing. He knew that Zerrus was one to deflect, but she never lied when it came to serious matters.

“Cherry suggested it. She knew how I felt about shackling Dat. She felt the same as me.” Zerrus’s grip tightened slightly, her breathing becoming harsher as her blood boiled. “I don’t know ALL of her thoughts, but I respect her decisions and her suggestions like an ADULT.” She shoved him away. “You forget that she’s practically an adult thanks to that huge fucking mess in the previous timeline. That’s the fucking CURSE of being AWARE of the RESETS.” She shuddered with anger. “And you know that better than me.”

“i never knew that cherry was the one to suggest the separation.” Red shook his head, completely stunned by the information Zerrus had just dropped on him. For 3 years, he and everyone else assumed that Zerrus and Dat just decided to get a divorce without even thinking about Cherry. “when was the last time ya saw him?”

“Been a few weeks. He’s still following that faint soul tune that has been guiding him to his mate.” She turned and stared off towards the sky, not staring at anything in particular. “I wonder if he’ll be happy.”

“are ya not happy bein’ soulmates with me an’ the others?” Red intoned in a whisper, more to himself than to her. What he wasn’t expecting was for Zerrus to suddenly collapse as she turned back to face him. “oh shit! are ya okay?!”

“I’m fine.” She felt a CHECK radiate through her soul as she stood back up, her eyes darkening for a brief moment. “Did you just-?”

“how long?”

“Don’t know.”

“ya don’t know?!” Red was becoming enraged with her deflections. He could tell that she was aware of the issue, but she wasn’t confronting it. Huffing out in anger, he teleported away before his anger would do something he’d regret, leaving Zerrus alone in the front yard and her head throbbing.

Rubbing at her temples, she wondered what Cherry was up to with Edge. When she entered the house, she was surprised to see Cherry in the kitchen and helping Edge cook dinner. Rubbing at her face to will away the tired look in her features, she entered the kitchen doorway with a smile. “How’s it coming, Cherry?”

“SHE’S AN EXCELLENT COOK! WITH DEDICATED TRAINING, SHE COULD BE A CHEF!” Edge complimented, blowing the wind out of both Zerrus and Cherry’s sails, Cherry once again turning into a little statue.

“Thanks.” She mumbled out, blinking twice as though she was seeing something bright in front of her eyes. “It smells really good at this point. Wonder how it’ll smell when it’s actually done.”

“EXPECT NO LESS DISH WITH MY CULINARY SKILLS MIXED WITH YOUR KEEN HUMAN SENSES!” Edge chuckled, Zerrus smiling widely.

“Looking forward to it.” Zerrus commented, moving to step away from the kitchen.

“AH. BEFORE YOU EXIT THE KITCHEN, MY BROTHER WISHES TO SPEAK TO YOU ABOUT SOMETHING.” She sighed quietly, knowing that Edge didn’t realize that she had already spoken with Red. “YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO FIND HIM IF HE ISN’T LAZING ON THE COUCH AGAIN.”

“Don’t worry, Edge. I’ll find him.” Zerrus assured, stepping out of the kitchen and immediately moving upstairs and to Red’s room. She could sense it: he was in his room and he was PISSED. She couldn’t exactly figure out what was making him angry; Whether it was about what he had read in her stats or his assumptions about her and Dat’s separation all that time ago, she didn’t know.

Raising a fist to knock on the door, she was shocked when the door swung open and she was drug inside, staggering forward and trying her damnedest not to fall flat on her face. When she finally righted her stance, she whipped around to face him. “What the hell-?!” she stopped mid-yell as she took in the sight of Red. He was avoiding looking at her, instead looking down at the floor and was partially hiding his skull in the fluff of his hood. “Red?”

“look. i may have been a bit… rash. i… fuckin’ hell why is this so goddamn hard?” She cocked her head at him. She could easily tell that whatever he was wanting to say was hard for him to verbally speak, so she instead opted for listening to his soul tune and finding what his intent was. When she couldn’t figure out the intent, she decided to CHECK him.

**“**Huh.” She quietly mumbled, shuffling a bit on her feet and unsure of how to react to what she read. “Took you long enough, eh?” Red looked shocked for a moment before she raised her hand. “Relax. Just trying to lighten the mood. But I’m afraid I’m going to have to say, ‘Not now’. It just isn’t the best time, y’know.”

“well… will ya at least accept a gift?”

That caught HER off guard. “That’s entirely up to you. I’m not going to say no to my soulmate if they want to give me a gift.” That seemed to relieve the edgy skeleton as he gestured for her to turn around. Giving a slight shrug, she turned around, unsure of what he was planning on doing.

Until a thin, leather material wrapped loosely around her neck and then settled gently on her collarbone.

“Can’t exactly see what you just put on me… but it feels like a collar.”

“yeah. got it custom fitted fer ya.” Red sighed, gently tapping her arm and gesturing for her to follow him. Stepping out of his room, he pointed down the hall. “bathroom’s down there.”

Without needing further instruction, she stepped into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. As she had suspected, Red had put on a collar on her. It was a simple royal blue collar with a tag on it. The tag was in the shape of a heart, yet she could see it was glowing just faintly. “Is this enchanted?”

“yeah. has a special soul lock on it.” She froze. He reached over and clinked the heart tag. “this tag will shine with whoever yer close to. it’s almost like a beacon to let any asshole tryin’ to mess with ya know that ya got many soulmates willin’ to kick their ass fer ya.” He tapped at the back of the collar, where she could feel the warming metal press against her skin. “the collar can’t be taken off without yer consent and the consent of yer soulmates.”

“Did… you and the others all agree on this?”

“you’d have to ask them.” He casually started walking down the hallway and towards the downstairs area. “dinner should be ready any minute, doll.”

She slowly stepped out of the bathroom and shrugged. “Not exactly the answer I was looking for.”

When Zerrus had left the kitchen to go find Red, Cherry sighed audibly. “You’re Worried For Her.” Edge spoke, his voice lowered so Zerrus couldn’t hear.

“It’s hard not to be, Uncle Edge. Mom won’t admit that there’s a problem. And it’s not what you’d expect it to be.” Cherry began. “I really don’t want to talk behind her back like this but confronting her only leads to her deflecting the issue or ignoring it. She only does that when it’s something she’s trying to hide or understand on her own.”

“So, It Has Nothing To Do With Dat.”

“Them separating wasn’t her choice, or his for that matter.” Edge blinked owlishly at her. “It was mine.”

“Yours?” Cherry hummed once, a common answering technique for her to tell people that she meant ‘yes’, that what she affirmed what they were asking. “But Why?”

“Uncle Edge… let’s be honest here. I look NOTHING like Dat, despite being born from a soul pact.” Cherry continued, slowly chopping ingredients for a salad to go with the lasagna dinner she and Edge were making together. “My magic varies far too greatly to even be considered a balance between them. Dat was a mage, pure and simple. Mom is a technical swordswoman with ranged capabilities. The only trait I share with them is my scythe can double as a freaking rifle.” She dumped the chopped contents into a bowl, dusting the remainder from her hand before turning to face Edge directly and pointing upstairs. “My combat prowess is closer to Uncle Red.”

“Red? My Brother? What On Earth Do You Mean?”

“Think about it. Mom’s class title is called a Soul Render. Dat’s class was called a Gravity Manipulator.” She again pointed upstairs. “Uncle Red, Uncle Sans, and Uncle Stretch share a common role from the Underground.” She then waved her hand to the side. “You tell me what that role was.”

“I Never Questioned Him About His Duties.”

“I didn’t ask for the duties of his sentry role, Uncle Edge. I asked you what his ROLE was. What all three of them had in common that was revealed 3 years ago.”

Cherry could see Edge thinking about it, his eyesockets trained on the oven timer for a moment before turning to look back at Cherry. “They Called Themselves ‘Judges’.”

“Bingo.” Edge shifted uncomfortably. “My class was called Inquisitor. A translation that literally means I INSPECT. Something that all the Judges had in common.”

“You Seem Awfully Intelligent About This Matter.” Edge finally prodded, his eyesockets narrowing slightly at her. “How Long Have You Been ‘Inspecting’ This?”

“3 years.” Shuffling from outside of the kitchen area signified to Cherry that they should stop talking about the subject, opting instead to move back to the salad she was working on before. “Think I should go ahead and add the cheese?”

“YES. THE LASAGNA SHOULD BE READY IN A FEW MINUTES.” Edge answered, his voice returning to his normal volume and having caught on to her sudden change in subject. Just at that moment, Red and Zerrus stepped into the archway. “DINNER SHOULD BE READY IN A FEW MINUTES. GO AHEAD AND HAVE A SEAT.”

“Smells like an Italian restaurant in here.” Zerrus quipped, hopping up into a chair awkwardly with a grunt. “Tiny legs…”

Cherry chuckled quietly under her breath, always finding it amusing how her mother’s biology caused her so much irritation; from sitting in a chair to reaching something on a high shelf. Most times, Zerrus had to come to Cherry to get something since she had grown a couple inches higher than her own mother. It appeared she wasn’t the only one who found humor in the situation because Red was attempting to not laugh aloud just as much as she was, and Edge had a slight smirk on his teeth. Seeing them smile after coming from the Undergrounds they did was always enough to make her heart warm.

When Zerrus finally situated herself in the chair, she turned and looked at Cherry. “Consider yourself lucky, Cherry! You got the long legs!”

“More like the human DNA strand.” She shot back over her shoulder, Red barking out in laughter.

“DINNER’S UP!” Edge called out, grabbing the lasagna dish from the oven and placing it on the stove burner to cool down on a safe surface. He began putting squares of the dish onto plates, Cherry toting them over to the table and placing them in front of the place settings along with the salad bowl in the middle of the table. Zerrus still had some problems seeing over the tabletop, grumbling slightly under her breath as she opted to lightly hover in her seat.

Watching her struggle, Red sighed with a chuckle in his breath and picked her off of her seat, placing her on his lap. “yer supposed ta relax when ya eat. not struggle.” He grabbed her plate, placing it to one side with his plate and trying his hardest not to laugh at her shifting to get comfortable in the strange hold.

“Skeleton monsters are so freakin’ weird…” she mumbled feeling the invisible body that was Red’s leg under her butt and making her slightly uncomfortable. Ignoring her discomfort, she began eating while Red had one arm wrapped loosely around her waist to keep her from sliding off.

Cherry couldn’t help but stare. The collar on her neck was equipped with a health monitor. While she couldn’t see the cause of the problem, it was obvious that something was wrong. The magic that was imbued on the heart stone was a reflection of her soul bonds. The brightly glowing red section of the crystal was, without a doubt, Red’s soul bond signature. The faint dark blue section was Zerrus’s. One thing was clear while everyone ate, and Cherry analyzed the pendant.

Zerrus was Falling Down.


	2. Paternity/Sanctum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cherry confronts Sans and Red with the evidence she had gathered over the years.
> 
> Zerrus meets up with Lust to talk about her problem.

Another day, another lesson she had already learned. Cherry was getting quite bored with the school life considering she and the other 2 Guardians her age are forced to relearn the 7th grade education. They all knew it; they just chose not to talk about it. “Something bothering you, Cherry?” Yonk spoke, startling her out of her tired thoughts.

“Yeah.” She answered blandly, grabbing her backpack strap and hiking the bag higher up her shoulder.

“You want to talk about it?” Faliko inquired, her faded gem green eyes flickering at her slightly.

“No.”

“Aww, come on Cherryboo! Don’t leave us in the dark! Tell us what’s bothering you?” Cherry shot a dark glance at her, countering the glittering in Faliko’s eyes with the dangerous dark flare in her blueberry ones. “Okay.”

“You know that you don’t have to do this alone, right?” Yonk asked quietly, scratching his platinum hair nervously.

“I know that.” Cherry responded just as emotionless as before, her mind set on one thing alone. “I just don’t want to involve anyone not already involved.” They approached an intersection; the same one they always separate at to head to their individual homes. “See you guys tomorrow.”

After saying their goodbyes, Cherry strolled down the sidewalk and alongside the park that was on the way home. She sighted Sans and Red at their hotdog cart and picked up the pace, almost moving into a jog. Sans caught sight of Cherry first, his lazy slouch straightening slightly and his grin widening. With a lazy wave, he called out to her. “hey, kiddo.” Red looked over to see who Sans was greeting and waved just as lazily as Sans. “what’s the rush?” he asked her as she approached the cart.

“I’m not here for pleasantries, Sans.” Cherry spoke matter-of-factly.

“oh boy.” Red groaned slightly, placing a hand on his face. “she’s pissed.”

“Not pissed. I want answers.” Cherry corrected, setting her backpack down and rifling through the contents.

“answers about what? homework?” Sans asked, a confused look on his face.

“Don’t get smart with me right now. I’m on my last thread of patience and the only one who can answer my questions is YOU.” She slammed a notebook on the counter of the hotdog cart, jostling the bottles slightly. “I’ve been taking notes on Mom’s condition.”

“her condition?”

“DON’T. TEST ME.” Cherry growled out, grabbing his hoodie sleeve and yanking him forward. Despite being in a child’s body, Cherry was just as powerful as she was prior to the RESET. She just never had a need to exert any of that energy since then. “You, of all people, should know that there’s something wrong.” She poked him square in the ribs. “If you’re trying to tell me you haven’t noticed the withering in your SOUL, then you are blind.”

Sans was silent for a moment, his eyelights having burnt out at being called out on the soul bond. “how long have you been looking into this?”

“For 3 years.” Cherry opened the notebook to the first page. “I have been watching her condition since that day. The day we were given a second chance.” She flipped several pages forward. “For every day since then, she’s gotten WORSE. And just last night, I received the confirmation I needed thanks to the gift Red gave her.”

“fuck. i didn’t fuckin’ know ya were investigatin’ that shit.” Red groaned, setting his head down on the counter and banging it slightly.

“It’s my JOB. Just like yours.” That got both of their undivided attention. “I need to know: What happened after the battle? Why we RESET?”

“maybe you should be asking her about-“ Sans started. Cherry slapped her hands on the counter.

“I CAN’T ask her. You know this!” She pointed at Red. “She deflects anybody’s concerns! That’s why I’m coming to YOU.” She pointed at Sans, her eyes narrowing. “What. Happened. In. The Caves?”

It felt like time was crawling around them, almost non-existent. Red looked nervous, but Sans looked utterly defeated. Cherry was done playing around. She’d been investigating Zerrus’s condition ever since the RESET 3 years ago. What had preceded that RESET was the final battle between the Guardians and the entirety of the Sacred Grove against the forces of the Gloam. She knew that something had happened to where Zerrus is suffering the consequences. With a dark sigh, he leaned forward and rest his skull on his hands. “you really want to know?”

“I NEED to know. It’s the only thing I am lacking on finding a way to help.” She tapped the notebook. “It’s the missing link to getting her back to where she needs to be. You have the answer and the power to help, but I need to know.” His eyelights slowly fizzled into a dull shine, looking at Cherry. “Only you can make this right. But I need to find the right path for you to take.”

“on one condition: we backpedal to your previous statement about this being your job. what did you mean by that?”

She shook her head slowly, her eyes dropping to the sidewalk pathway and at her pink shoes. “You can’t be this blind.” She looked back up, but not at Sans – but at Red. “You spoke to your brother last night, didn’t you?”

Red’s eyelights blinked out, colored sweat beading on his skull. “uhh…” She narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms and huffing irritably. “yeah. boss and i chat last night.”

“Did he tell you what I told him? About my suspicions?”

“he did. i couldn’t fuckin’ sleep last night, thinkin’ about what you were thinkin’.” He rubbed his face vigorously, groaning in frustration. “ya can’t be fuckin’ serious about that? are ya?”

“Dead serious.” Cherry reached back into her bag and fished out a second notebook. “I’ve taken the opportunity to document the differences between me, Zerrus, and Dat. At first, I seemed predominantly closer to Zerrus, but there were no physical traits that linked me to Dat. Not even elemental attributes.” She flipped a few pages. “I started documenting the differences between you guys; the universal and characteristic differences between your tangents. I then began comparing that data to Zerrus and you guys once her soul bond was confirmed.” As Red and Sans read the notes, she noticed they grew stiffer as time went by and each piece of data was absorbed. “You can’t deny the data before you guys. Dat ISN’T my father, despite being born from the soul pact they had at the time of my birth.” She pointed at the two of them. “It’s you guys. The Judges.”

“holy shit.” Red mumbled, shutting the notebook and stepping away from the cart, walking down the pathway a bit and flopping down on a nearby bench.

“you’ve definitely done your research… hell, even your guardian class resonates with it. just like you said; i can’t deny it. everything is concise and clear.” Sans shook his head, rubbing his temple and sighing deeply. “guess i owe you some answers.” He opened up the cart for a second, fishing out a hotdog and offering it to Cherry. “may as well have one on me. i owe you a lot more than just answers at this point.” He put up a CLOSED sign on the cart, putting the condiments into their compartments underneath and locking them in. “come on. we’ll join red on the bench over there.”

Taking the hotdog from his hand, Cherry waltzed over to the bench, sitting down next to Red, startling the edgy skeleton from his internal debate and to her presence. Sans sat down next to her, sandwiching Cherry between both former Judges. “you wanted to know what happened in the caverns that day…” Cherry nodded, taking a bite of the hotdog. “well kiddo, it ain’t pretty.”

“Can’t be worse than when my arms were cut off in the previous timeline.” Cherry remarked.

“okay. you got me there.” Sans nodded, placing his arms on his knees and bouncing his leg. “you know her moral code, right?”

“Don’t Kill and Don’t Be Killed.”

“right. well, she had to break that code.” Cherry choked on the bite of hotdog she had just eaten, smacking her chest to dislodge the piece. “don’t judge her for it though. she already feels guilty about it.”

“But why? And who?”

“well, zerrus’s class identification was revealed as a soul render. she literally destroys souls with just her hands. the one who was responsible for killing so many people…” Sans raised his hand slightly, palm up. “she literally took their soul in her hands.” He squeezed his fist. “she crushed it into dust.” He shook his head, his head throbbing. “i thought i had seen it all… but seeing her breaking that soul not only destroyed them… it destroyed herself.”

“What do you mean?”

“the demon that held to her soul from the universe she was from… they agreed to switch control to survive. that demon slaughtered so many of the changelings without regret and the LOVE was poured into her SOUL. she was the one to suffer the consequences of their actions, not them since she was the host.” Cherry could swear she saw something beading on the rim of his eyesocket before he turned away slightly. “when the battlefield cleared… she destroyed the demon’s soul, dropped her weapons, and told me she was ready to accept judgement.” Now she was certain he was having a slight breakdown; she heard his bones rattling faintly. “i had to strike her down. i’ve done it before with the kid when they caused a genocidal timeline, but never have i ever seen someone’s soul shatter so quickly under the force of the karmic retribution.”

“Do you think that… maybe the Karmic Retribution carried over to this timeline?” Cherry inquired, swaying her feet slightly.

“honestly? i don’t know.” Sans answered.

“What do you think it could be?”

“either it’s what you just suggested… or she still feels guilty about it.”

“Well, I can believe either one of those scenarios. Mom beats herself up sometimes, but she does it under light humor.” Cherry chuckled. “I guess that’s one good thing about her if it IS guilt. But what I really need to know is WHY? Why is she Falling Down?”

Red and Sans jerked violently, their eyelights simultaneously blinking out. “she’s what?”

“She’s Falling Down. If this was Karmic Retribution alone, her HP would merely be dropping, but the base would remain the same. The base is dropping too, so something is wrong.”

“i think it’s both.” Red croaked out, staring at the ground instead of looking at Cherry or Sans. “that collar i gave her… it displays the strength of the souls she’s bonded with. her color was so dim an’ diluted it almost wasn’t there.”

“Both?” Cherry hopped to her feet; alarm written on her face. “Wait! If she’s still experiencing the KR effect AND she feels guilty, at the rate her HP has declined, she’ll die within the next month!” She whipped around to face the two skeletons. “I don’t have a lot of time to think or act on this. Sans, you need to confront her. Tell her that it’s not her fault! Just… DO SOMETHING.” She grabbed his hoodie, tears running down her face. “PLEASE. Before it’s too late… If she’s Falling Down, her DETERMINATION is already GONE.”

Both skeletons were stunned. Cherry had been headstrong about confronting them about her findings, but the revelation of what they surmised from the data was too much for her. She was completely breaking down. Cherry had been through so much in her life; having been born into the world of Underlust and following alongside her mother, losing her for about 6 years when she was fixing damages that was caused by her SOUL, to being mutilated by the core demon that shadowed her mother’s SOUL. Not once had she broken down in that timeline.

However, this time seemed to be different.

Here she is now, struggling to keep the tears from rolling down her cheeks and gripping the fabric of Sans’s hoodie so tightly her knuckles were bone white. He didn’t even need to CHECK her soul to see the pain written in her eyes. She was desperate. With slight hesitation, he reached forward and wrapped her up in his arms, letting her sob uncontrollably into his hoodie. Glancing up to Red, Sans could see the same inner turmoil he must’ve been going through. Not only did they learn that Cherry was in fact their daughter, she was just as perceptive as them when it came to SOULs and they knew that what she had uncovered had to be right.

She couldn’t let them know. She could feel the pangs in her SOUL that indicated they were detecting what was happening to her. Red had broken the one intimate rule about CHECKING: Do not CHECK someone unless in a confrontation or without their consent. Whether he knew the cause of her Falling Down or not, she couldn’t tell. What Zerrus did know is that she’s running out of time.

Hood up and the cloak wrapped around her, she trudged through the damp snow as fast as she could. The one person she could turn to had agreed to keep her condition a secret, but he lived such a far distance from where she lived, choosing to live in the deepest recesses of Wugachug and away from the normal pathways and sites. The territory she was entering was considered the most scandalous area in all of the Sacred Grove, which deterred people like her from ever wishing to enter the area unless they knew someone as a friend or were curious. Fortunately, she knew the code when it came to this area.

Despite that, that didn’t mean she didn’t get those sultry stares as she trudged through the snow and towards her destination. Choosing to ignore it, she pressed onwards until she found the building she was looking for. While she was utterly revolted by being here, she knew that she can’t let her reservations continue to hold her back considering her current situation. Opening the door to the brothel, she stepped inside and her body flinched almost violently. The smells and sounds of the club was enough for her to completely still. “Welcome to The Sanctum. To what _pleasure_ do we owe this visit today?” introduced the Greeter.

“I’m here to speak with a friend.” Zerrus spoke as bland as possible, her voice almost clipping harshly.

“Of course. Which friend are you here to ‘speak’ with?” Zerrus’s eyes hooded in irritation. She knew that this poor Greeter didn’t realize that she really meant ‘speak’ and not anything to suggest an innuendo, but it didn’t stop her from being slightly irritated about it.

Remaining stoic and not venting out her frustration at the assumption, she answered. “Lust.”

“Ahh, he’s quite the favorite lately. Any special introduction for him?”

“Pardon?”

“Here in The Sanctum, when there are requests to meet someone, we usually have them prepare with a greeting of their own.”

“Alright. Tell him the keyword POPTART. He’ll know what it means.” Zerrus did not miss the absolute look of confusion that drew on the Greeter’s face before it was replaced with a smile.

“Alright then! I’ll deliver the message once I’ve shown you to your room.” Following the Greeter with her cloak wrapped even tighter around her as she was led down the hallway and towards the backrooms. The sounds were getting louder, Zerrus discreetly snapping her fingers and the ear defenders snapping onto her head, immediately moving her hand to set the volume to its lowest setting to deafen out the noises. The Greeter stopped and said something to her, but she couldn’t hear her, instead opting to reacting based on the hand gestures the Greeter was showing.

With a slight nod, Zerrus entered the room the Greeter had stopped in front of and stepped inside. A cliché heart shaped bed was set in the center of the room along with a pole that was slightly off to the side, Zerrus immediately sitting down on the edge of the bed and crossing her arms, a violent shiver running up her spine and a groan leaving her lips. “I swear… why did I have to get soul mated with EVERY freakin’ Judge?” she grumbled to herself, her stomach twisting and clenching in revulsion. “No way in fuckin’ HELL am I unmutin’ my damn headcuffs.”

She nearly jumped out of her skin when Lust appeared in front of her suddenly, her whole body lurching backwards with the force of her jump and landing in the center of the large bed with her arm up into a defensive stance. She couldn’t hear him, but she knew that he was saying something as an assurance that it was just him since both of his hands were raised upward in a posture of assurance and his grin was almost flat. Exhaling the breath, she hadn’t realized she sucked in, she lowered her hood and tapped her ear defenders, slowly turning up the dial to where the only noises she could hear was the sound of his magic faintly crackling through the device.

“still defensive around me, i see?” Lust quipped, his grin hitching up slightly. “so, what brings you here, love?”

“The arrangement we had set. The investigation.” Zerrus began, scooting from the center of the bed and to one side. “But first, I have a question.”

“ask away.”

“Did you have anything to do with the gift Red gave me?”

“the collar? of course. i’m the one who got the measurements for it to be fitted to you.” Zerrus raised a brow. “he tried to pop the question, didn’t he?”

“In a sense. A pretty silly move to ask the edgiest of you guys to approach me about their feelings. The dude could barely even face me after he found out.” Lust shifted, sitting down on the other side of the bed.

“he found out? about…?” Lust trailed out; the question being heard clearly.

“Yeah.”

“how, love? you’ve been so careful to avoid anyone finding out.”

“He CHECKED me.” She could see him flinch and his eyelights blinked out. “It’s fine. He didn’t violate any other protocols and he got quite the tongue lashing from me. But that’s not what’s important here.” Zerrus could feel her energy sapping by the minute, wobbling in her seated position. “It’s getting worse, Lust.”

“i can see that. go ahead and lie down. we have the room for an hour, so just relax.” She narrowed her tired eyes at him, the once vibrant red eyes now a dull husk. With a chuckle, Lust reclined back until his head hit one of the pillows. “i won’t do anything you don’t consent to. you made your point clear the first time we met. besides, we’re just here to talk.”

“Fine…” Zerrus relented, flopping backward and onto the other pillow, staring at the ceiling. “What am I going to do, Lust? I can’t keep going at this pace.”

“you’re running from the problem, love.”

“I’m not running from anything.”

“that’s not what your SOUL is calling out.” She turned her head to look at him. “something is hurting you, both inside and out. you don’t even shine with DETERMINATION anymore.” He turned his head to look at her. “whatever is causing this… it’s because of you.”

“What do you mean?”

“you’ve given up. and it’s not my place to fix this. i can only listen.” She knew this; Lust can’t help her fix the problem, but rather help her vent out the frustration by talking to him. Out of all of her soulmates, Lust is the one all of them would have least expected her to confide in, which made it perfect for her to keep the problem under wraps. She loathed heading to the sector of the Grove that held the majority of the Underlust residents to talk about this, but it was something she had to do to keep them from being involved.

His words were echoing in her head; that she had given up. She had actually given up 3 years ago, after she broke her code. Not only had she broken her code, she broke her promise. She promised Sans that she wouldn’t RESET, and she broke that promise at the end of the Great Battle. A part of her knew that she shouldn’t beat herself up and that it was necessary for the sake of the entire Grove to be able to move forward, but the deepest part of her resented it. The Battle, Geoffrey and Azula, Cahtke…

Newb and Resurz.

She had seen so many familiar faces – the faces of the people she came to despise and wanted to kill at one point but didn’t allow herself to in those moments. Not until that day. But it wasn’t the faces of her enemies that flashed in her mind the most; it was the faces of those who were warped by the Gloam magic that she had struck down that haunted her. They were only citizens and didn’t deserve their fates, but what hurt her the most was that it wasn’t HER who killed them.

With a sigh, she affirmed, “Yeah… I have given up…”

“but why?” She tensed. She only wanted to answer that question once. But not to Lust.

“I can’t answer that, Lust.” She rolled over and turned her back to him, staring at the wall of the room and sinking into the plush of the mattress. Several long moments of silence passed between them before she felt Lust shift off of the bed.

“nothing can be gained from lying there and taking it.” She sat up, raising a brow at him in question. “you said those words to me a long time ago when you helped me through one of my… episodes.”

“That’s a polite way to put it.” she groused, pushing off of the bed and wobbling slightly. “I’ve seen PTSD flashbacks before. Even been through them myself. But what you experienced that day was BEYOND a flashback, and we both know that.”

“guilty.” He responded back with a smirk, gesturing for her to follow. “our time is up, love. i trust that you can make it back to sanctuary safely?”

She tested her footing, finding that she was extremely exhausted despite just lying there on the bed for a little over 45 minutes and listening to the gentle hum of his magic while she gathered her thoughts. “I’ll find a way.”

“you know that i could just take you home.”

“And you know that Cherry would ask about why you were with me. I do NOT want to have to explain that it’s not what she thinks.” Zerrus rubbed her face with one hand, the other moving her hood over her head. “That’s the last thing I need right now is another headache.” She fished into her pocket and handed Lust the payment for the room. “Pretty sure I’m supposed to pay for using the room. Even though all we did was talk.”

“you don’t have to pay for this, love.”

“I’m not breaking the rules of this place. You took time out of your schedule for me and I used a room. I’m paying.” She shoved the bills into his hand and closed his fist around them for him.

Just as she was walking away, Lust spoke. “does it bother you, what i do for a living?”

She stopped in her steps and looked over her shoulder. “Why would I be? It’s part of where you’re from.”

“you’re lying to yourself again.”

“Lust.” She turned to face him fully, her eyes dangerously sparking. “If I got upset with you for doing your job, I would have to be upset with Sans for running a damn hotdog cart or Stretch working part-time at Muffet’s Bakery.” She raised her head slightly, making sure that Lust could see her face clearly and how serious she was about the matter. “Also, you happen to forget that I’m also mated to a destroyer.” She turned away in a slight huff, walking out of the club as fast as she could and down the slush covered walkway that led out of the smuttiest part of Wugachug area. “I think he and I have something in common at that…”


	3. The Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zerrus is confronted by Sans after returning home from speaking with Lust.

It wasn’t until late at night that Zerrus had finally made it back home, but she was hesitant to walk through the door. Under the thick material of her cloak, she could see the light of the collar’s heart-shaped stone glowing a cyan color. The only soulmate she knew with a cyan soul was Sans, which indicated to her that he was inside. But it wasn’t that he was inside the house that was causing her to hesitate – it was that his intent was radiating clearly.

He was going to talk to her about something.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the door quietly and stepped inside. Situated on the couch was Sans, his orbits closed, and Cherry snuggled up against him, her head resting on his sternum. Smiling slightly, Zerrus tip-toed her way to the supply closet and fished out a small blanket, draping them over the two of them. Before she went to head upstairs, she switched off the overhead light, then slowly stepped into her office. Unhooking the cloak and hanging it on the back of the door, Zerrus sat down in front of her office computer.

The second she sat down, displays turned on across the office. Each display was set to show different levels of magic and activity in the different regions of the Sacred Grove. As per her new job as Advisor, she was charged with monitoring the various magic levels that were caused by the monster residents and in the regions they were moved to. But the only display she was majorly concerned with was the display of the heart of the Sacred Grove: Sanctuary.

The magic levels of Sanctuary has substantially dipped in the past 3 years and she couldn’t figure out what was causing it. Queen Valerian had diviners try to speak with the soul of the Heartseed, the entity that chose herself and Dat as the Guardians of the Grove. There was no success on deciphering the cause and the diviners received no words from the entity. This left everyone in the dark and the responsibility of finding out what was causing it on Zerrus’s shoulders. The only person who had the most communication with the entity was Zerrus. As she had expected, the magic levels were steadily declining and she had just as much information as the rest of them.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, she stepped away from the monitor and strode over to the office door. Just as she was about to open it, she stilled. She could feel it; Sans was awake. Shaking her head and preparing herself mentally for whatever he had to say, she opened the door. When she looked over the banister, she locked eyes with Sans. He gave a tired wave to her, then beckoned her over. Tiredly walking down the steps and sitting down in the recliner across from the couch, she looked at him. “So… what brings you here?” she whispered so as not to wake up Cherry, who was still snoozing rather peacefully against his chest.

“what makes you think i’m here for something?” Sans replied. “i could be here cause i wanted to spend some time with you and the kid.”

Zerrus shot him a look. “I may be tired… but I’m not daft. I can feel the soul pulses.” She crossed one leg over the other, sinking into the cushion of the recliner. “What is it?”

“cherry came forward with something.” She sat up slightly, but just as quickly sunk back into the cushion. Sans’s grin twitched slightly, his eyelight scanning her. “you know what i’m talking about, don’t you?”

“Starting to think the jig is up.” She groaned slightly, her eyes feeling heavy and another sting of pain shooting through her chest. “So… Cherry figured it out?”

“i guess it’s hard for her not to notice. after all…” She could see something flicker in his eyelights, then he looked down at Cherry and gently rubbed her back. “she figured out something i don’t think even you knew about.”

“What?”

“she’s not dat’s.”

“That’s not new to me. I figured that out a while back when I first saw her combat capabilities.”

Sans looked visibly stunned and annoyed at this information; that Zerrus had known the whole time that Cherry was actually his daughter. “and you didn’t think to tell anyone?”

“I think we had more pressing matters to attend to back then.” Zerrus gestured for him to continue. “What else did she figure out? My condition?”

“yeah.” Sans went silent for a while, his eyelights focused on Cherry before moving back up to Zerrus. “why have you given up?”

“You know damn well why.” She stood up from the recliner, moving to head into the kitchen when a weight settled on her soul and kept her rooted into place. “Sans…”

“you’re not running away from this. i’m tired of watching those i care about die and that includes you.”

“Take a chill pill, will ya? I was heading into the kitchen to get something to drink.” She tapped her chest a couple of times, dispelling the weight of his blue magic and walking into the kitchen to grab a cup. Ever since she had started the process of Falling Down, her soulburst ability had become far too unstable and dangerous to use. Each soulburst used a large portion of Life Magic that her body used, leaving her tired and sickly for a short period of time. Instead of using her soulburst to escape from malevolent magic, she’d been using much smaller and less than effective means of breaking magic.

Walking back into the living room, she sat back down with a cup of cooled Sea Tea in her hands. “i need to hear you say it.” Sans muttered out, Zerrus cocking a brow at him mid-sip.

“Say what?”

“i need you to say why you’ve given up.”

She stared at the cup in her hands for a moment, but that moment felt like hours that ticked by between them. She really didn’t want to talk about it, especially after having discussed it a few hours ago with Lust. But he was right: Nothing can be gained by lying there and taking it. It was time she said something. Looking up from her glass, she narrowed her eyes slightly. “What exactly do you want to know regarding this? The fact I can’t escape my sin. The mere pain of knowing I had to break the code. What is it?” Sans was still seated rather lazily on the couch; Cherry having not stirred in the slightest. “Maybe it’s that I broke my fucking promise.”

That made him sit up. “the promise you made to me?”

“What other promise is there?” she shot back venomously. “I SWORE to you that I wouldn’t RESET, and I did it anyways.” She gripped her hair, shaking her head. “And I’m forced to relive that memory EVERY night.”

“nightmares?”

“WORSE.” She summoned her SOUL, cracks visible on the dull shining heart and the pulsing light from it looking like a dying bulb. “I can see it, y’know. Your Karmic Retribution still clings to me. I ACCEPTED that I had to kill, but somewhere along the line I haven’t forgiven myself for it and neither have you.”

“that’s where you’re wrong.” Her fist clenched slightly, almost touching her SOUL and causing her to flinch. As the Soul Render, she had the power to effectively ERASE SOULs from the timeline with her bare hands. She hasn’t used that power in 3 years and therefore does not know how she can use the power. The only person who could have taught her… she had erased. “i have forgiven you. for everything.”

“You’re lying.”

“i’m not.” Sans shifted to where Cherry was now laying down on one of the throw pillows. Standing up from the couch, he stepped in front of Zerrus. An audible ping resonated through the room and Sans’s SOUL hovered in front of his chest. “if you don’t believe me, you can see it for yourself.”

She hesitated. Zerrus didn’t want to put him at risk, so she opted to merely CHECK his SOUL. “So… you DO forgive me.” She could feel some of the weight of her sins lift off of her shoulders, but not all of it. “But I can’t afford to forgive myself.” She looked down at her hands, a flicker of a memory flashing before her eyes. “I doubt you can understand how this feels, Sans. Knowing that...” Her voice caught in her throat, another flicker appearing before her eyes. She shut them just as soon as the memory flashed in front of her, Sans quickly sending his SOUL back into his ribcage and placing his hands on her shoulders.

“**d o n ‘ t.**” he warned, his hands shaking slightly. “**i t ‘ s n o t y o u r f a u l t.**”

** “**IT IS.” She shuddered out, shaking her head violently. “I ALLOWED IT TO HAPPEN.”

“you had no choice!” he growled out, Zerrus’s eyes shooting open to look up at him. If Sans was telling her that she had no choice, that was all the confirmation she needed. “you had no choice…”

“So, you would’ve done it too?”

“wouldn’t have hesitated.” Sans admitted, her eyes growing wide. “there are some exemptions to the promise we made. the unspoken rules.”

“Like?”

“i immediately forgave you when you told me you were ready for judgement. you knew that in order for the grove to move forward we had to move back.” He shuddered, his bones rattling. “do you have any idea how hard it was for me to do that?”

“I can guess…” Zerrus stood up from the chair, hugging Sans tightly before moving back to the kitchen. She could hear him following her, so she hopped up onto the barstool next to the kitchen island, Sans following her lead. “There’s more than you know, Sans. About my condition.”

“i’m listening.”

“I don’t think the RESET did anything to revert what the Gloam Overlord did to my SOUL. Those cracks aren’t from me Falling Down.”

“are you sure?”

“I’m positive. I think he’s trying to make me submit to his will and become his Agent of Despair by slowly killing me and shattering what’s left of my sanity.” Another flash. “I can’t stop seeing the faces of those I erased. The lives I changed forever.”

“i can only sympathize so much. i get nightmares about watching the kid kill everyone i knew and loved back before you came into my life. i know that it’ll never happen again, but the memories are still there, after who knows how long.” He took a deep breath, controlling his magic from flickering on and causing any further issues for Zerrus’s already unstable SOUL. “you just… you need to stay determined, kid.”

“I can’t.” Zerrus said immediately, averting her gaze from him and setting her head down on the island. “I can’t do it.”

“you’re still giving up? even though i told you that i forgave you?” She stared forward, her eyes not focusing on anything in front of her gaze. “don’t do this to her.”

“Hm?” She turned her head to look at him, confusion drawn on her face.

“if you give up, the power will fall on her.” Sans pointed at Cherry, who was still sleeping soundly on the couch. “not to mention, she’s not ready to lose you. nobody ever is, regardless of how old they are.” Zerrus’s eyes fell on to her daughter, the spark in her eyes flickering slightly. Zerrus had lost her father many years ago, when she was roughly 16 years old and was a budding warrior within the Royal Guard. She still bears that pain, remembering the sadness she felt that sent her into a mute state for almost 6 months. “don’t hurt her like this. she’s been through enough as it is being born into the role she has.”

“You don’t understand. I CAN’T allow myself to be determined anymore. I HAVE to give up. It’s the only way to stay alive now.”

“you’re confusing me.”

“He tainted my DETERMINATION.” She felt a flash of burning pain shoot up her spine, her head falling back on the counter and her breath quickening to vent out the hot air. “I know it’s spreading… and there’s nothing I can do about it. At least… nothing I know of.” She raised a shaky hand to point over to a cabinet. “There’s some medication in that cabinet over there. A bottle labelled M12. Can you bring it over and another glass of Sea Tea?”

She heard Sans shuffle quickly in the cabinet and fridge, returning with the Sea Tea and the bottle of M12 medication. Ever since the symptoms had started, she’d been ingesting a magic vitamin tablet to help balance out the tainted magic that was poisoning her body and eating and drinking plenty of healing magic infused foods. Swallowing the tablet with a grimace, she drank the entire glass of Sea Tea in one go. “are you going to be okay?”

“Maybe. This is only a temporary solution to the problem. It’s the only thing that’s been keeping me alive at this point.” She put her head back down, letting the healing magic slowly absorb into her Life Magic and balance out the constant KR effect. “Believe me… I don’t want this to fall on her. But at the rate I’m going, I’m going to have no choice. The longer I hold onto what little DETERMINATION I have, the more I’m killing myself.”

“and you’re holding back because you don’t want to drop the responsibility on her.”

“Exactly.” She raised a hand and plopped it back down on top of Sans’s, giving it a lazy pat. “At least you understand that much. Makes it easier on me, right now.”

“what i’m not understanding is what your plan is? you’re just going to dump the responsibility of the guardian of determination on her? and then what? will that cure you or are you just going with your first theory?”

“I don’t know. I’ve poured through documents from the Shrouded Glade about tainted magic cures. Every record says roughly the same thing: to cure a magic taint, one must detach themselves from the magic that has been tainted.” Her hand twitched, another burning pain shooting through her body like a spear. “I hate having to do this… to detach myself from DETERMINATION, but if it’s to keep me alive, then I have to do it. I was chosen as a Guardian and it’s still my duty to protect the land, with or without my powers.” She gasped at the end of her last sentence, the burning pain becoming a stabbing pain.

“there’s something else I need to talk to you about.”

“Why the sudden change in subject?” Zerrus groaned out slightly, still partially doubled over on the counter.

“i can sense that talking about this is starting to hurt you the longer you discuss it.”

“Well thanks for that, I suppose. What else do you want to talk about?”

“back to you and dat. cherry told me that she was the one who suggested you two get the divorce. do you know what that means?”

“She knew when she had suggested it.” Zerrus turned her head to look at him. “She’s smarter than I give her credit for. She definitely knows how to hide her investigations.”

“no kidding. but… where’s dat now? and do you still talk to him?”

“Of course. I don’t know where he is exactly, but I know that he’s well. Dat and I were only married because we were outcasted YEARS before monsters were released from the Underground. We didn’t want to be alone in our plight and found comfort in each other. We were literally just friends who were married.” She chuckled lightly, remembering a fond memory. “I remember the day of the marriage. We had many of our friends who supported us in our plights ask us so many times if we’d be intimate given the fact he showed NO attraction to ME and I have the sexuality of a brick wall. We ended up making the phrase ‘Friends with One Benefit’ out of all of that.”

“that benefit being that you two weren’t alone anymore.”

“Bingo.” She devolved into giggles. “That first night was by far the funniest one I had ever seen. He got shy about walking around the house in his boxers! I didn’t give a damn. If he wanted to walk around buck ass naked, I wouldn’t have cared. As long as he was comfortable.”

“would you feel the same way if i did that?”

Zerrus jerked, sitting upright so fast she fell off the barstool and smacked into the linoleum floor. “God BLESS. You can’t just freakin’ ask me somethin’ like that outta the blue!” She struggled to sit up from the floor, rubbing her sore back and pulling herself back onto the stool with the help of Sans. “What’s with you skeletons lately?! First Red, now you?!”

“i’m not hearing a no.” The smirk on his dopey face almost made her want to smack him for the obvious tease.

“Well, the answer is ‘yes’. I don’t care if you decide to walk around comfortably. Just be mindful of the kid.”

“Is that an invitation for him to move in, Mom?” Zerrus once again jumped in her skin, her eyes bolting to look at the drowsy Cherry that was sitting on the couch and rubbing her eyes.

“Uhh…” She stilled, unsure of whether she would want that given her current predicament. “Maybe? I mean, I’m probably going to be called out on a task sooner or later with the Royal Guard and I’d be happier if someone were here to watch the house and you while I’m gone.”

“You mean like today?”

“That was an investigation I had to do manually. Digital readings only tell me so much.” It wasn’t exactly a lie, but it wasn’t the truth. Her original purpose was to speak with Lust about her condition, but along the way she did collect some water samples and some flora for a biological reading of the magic levels. “Sorry for keeping you two waiting.”

“You could have left a note.”

“I didn’t think I’d be gone that long. My bad.” She rubbed the back of her head. She could tell that Sans was picking up on her bull but wasn’t saying anything about it or calling her out on it. “Why don’t you go ahead and head to bed.”

“Alright.” Cherry slipped from the couch and slowly waddled up the steps. “Night, Mom.”

“Night, Cherry.” As Cherry disappeared from her line of sight, Zerrus waited until she heard her bedroom door click shut before turning to face Sans. “Just to let you know, I didn’t exactly lie about the magic investigation.” She fished out the samples that were still safe in her pocket and waggled them in front of his face. “Anyways… since it’s so late and you’re already here, you can crash here for the night.”

“do you have a guest bedroom or something?” Sans asked, yawning slightly.

“Nah. I’m afraid not. Cherry’s room used to be the guest room.” Zerrus hopped off the barstool, grabbing the blanket from the couch and folding it. “You can spend the night in my room. I’ll be busy with data readings throughout the night anyways.”

“nope.” Sans casually scooped Zerrus up from her armpits, her small frame making it easy for him to just manhandle like a kitten. “you’re getting some sleep.”

“What the hell! Put me down!” she squirmed in his grip, managing to turn herself around fully and glare at him. “I have work I need to do!”

“nope. not tonight. you’re taking the night off.” He casually opened the door that led into Zerrus’s bedroom using his magic, kicking the door shut behind him and placing a small magic wall on the door frame. Setting an angry Zerrus down on the bed, Sans began casually rifling through the top drawer of Zerrus’s dresser.

“Can ya NOT do that? I can change myself; you know.” Sans had found what he was looking for; a nightshirt that she could sleep in without a back for her wings to poke through. Tossing the garment at her, he turned his back. “Well at least you’re sparing me THAT decency.” She groused, casually changing into the nightgown. When she had pulled the gown fully over her head, she was partially surprised to see Sans without his hoodie on. In the 3 years she’s been friends with the skeletons, she has never seen the bones that made up Sans’s arms before. He’s always wearing something that covers his upper body in some way, whether it is his favorite hoodie or a sweater.

He casually crawled over Zerrus and settled himself against the wall on the bed, grabbing her midsection and pulling her against him. “you’re getting some sleep tonight. if you try to leave the room, i’ll know.”

“Great… held prisoner in my own room.” Zerrus grumbled as Sans pulled her blanket up to her chin. “So, what… you’re just gonna bearhug me the whole night?”

“if i have to.” Sans shifted slightly to where he was laying partially on his back and his arm still wrapped loosely around her. “sleep.”

Several minutes ticked by and she noticed that his breathing had evened out. Sadly, she couldn’t find it in her to sleep, like he had essentially commanded her to do. Every time she had closed her eyes, she could see the faces of those her body killed while Resurz was in control. Every time she looked down at her hands, she could see the souldust that caked to her gloves. She knew that timeline no longer existed, but the memories will always remain with her.

His words kept ringing through her mind. She had accepted that she’d given up, and she didn’t want to put the role of DETERMINATION on Cherry. Even he didn’t want that. But she could tell that he knew, just as much as her, that there may not be any other choice. But what was easing the weight on her shoulders and made her feel lighter was that he verbally and evenly visually showed to her with his SOUL that he had forgiven her.

But she didn’t forgive herself.


	4. Briar Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yonk shows no sympathy towards those that hurt the ones he cares for, yet at the same time...

Shadows. Screams of those she had to strike down. Everything was surrounding her. Zerrus flinched violently as one of the shadows grabbed her arm. “Why? Why did you do this to us, Rainbow Wind?” they begged, their grip tightening on her arm and bruising her. She opened her mouth to retort and explain her situation when another shadow grabbed her, this time by her ankle and dragging her down onto the floor.

“You betrayed us! We trusted you to protect us!”

“_It wasn’t my fault…_” her mind mumbled, her mouth unable to voice the words. A third shadow loomed above her, planting a hand on the center of her chest and pulling her damaged SOUL from its confines. Her eyes widened in shock as the shadow grabbed her soul and held it in their palm.

“Perhaps YOU should feel what it’s like to die?” the shadow squeezed her SOUL, Zerrus screaming at the top of her lungs, yet no noise escaped. She could feel her SOUL crumbling under the force of the shadow’s grip, the pain tearing through her body. It felt as though all of her organs were being crushed, her bones creaking under the pressure that really wasn’t there.

Suddenly, the pain stopped, and the shadows vanished. When Zerrus managed to regain some semblance of her surroundings, she sat up and looked around. She was still surrounded by darkness, but the shadows and the screams had stopped. When she looked back forward, a familiar white robed figure was standing before her. “Archangel?”

“You have betrayed the people you swore to protect – not only by the Oath of the Royal Guard, but by your duties as a Guardian of the Sacred Grove.” The Archangel tilted their head slightly, Zerrus seeing their face for the first time since their communications began years ago. The eyes she once assumed were kind and soft were revealed to be solid white shining masses in their place. “You are a disgrace. And as such… you shall be forever stripped of your powers and forced to suffer for your crimes for the rest of your miserable life.” Zerrus’s SOUL slowly hovered upward and towards the Archangel. The holy entity reached out to touch her SOUL…

“HAAAH!” Zerrus shouted, jumping upright in her bed before falling out of the bed with the blanket catching her foot. “HOUF!”

“shit! zerrus, you alright?!” Sans barked out, her eyes darting around the room for a second before she remembered that Sans had spent the night in her room. When she looked down, or rather up at the ceiling, she spotted Sans leaned partially over the bed and his hand wrapped around the foot she thought was caught by the blanket. When she nodded at him, he slowly pulled her back up onto the bed, so she wasn’t dangling off the side. “must’ve been one hell of a bad one for you to just lunge out of your bed like that.”

“No fuckin’ idea, man… No. Fuckin’. Idea.” She mumbled out through her hands as she rubbed her face. “What time is it?”

“about 2 in the afternoon.”

She glanced at him through the spaces between her fingers. “Ass.”

He scoffed slightly with a chuckle in his voice. “what makes me an ass?”

“Making me sleep in this late when I have work to do.” She carefully stepped out of bed, testing her footing since she could still feel the bruising grip from the shadow in her dream and Sans having grabbed that same ankle to keep her from whacking her dome onto the wooden floor. “Did Cherry get to school alright?”

“yeah. i shortcutted us there.”

“Lazybones.” She began rifling through her dresser, frowning when she realized that her normal clothes were all in the laundry basket downstairs and waiting for her to wash them. Shaking her head, she shut the dresser and stepped over to the closet. She hadn’t opened the closet in several months, jamming various things in there. When she opened the door, a box tumbled from the top shelf. Side stepping out of the way, she panted harshly. “FUCKIN’ BOXES!”

Sans burst out laughing at her shout, completely caught off guard by her rage induced shout. “that happen often for you to curse boxes?”

“Often enough! You have any idea how many times I’ve been clocked in the head with one of these things?!” She kicked the box angrily, huffing as she cautiously approached the closet once again, now wary of the boxes she had stored on the top shelf. Just as she was about to look inside and riffle through the articles of clothing she had hanging up, her phone started ringing. Answering the phone, she shouldered the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

“Ah… is this Rainbow Wind’s phone number?” asked a gruff baritone voice on the other end of the line.

“This is her. May I ask who is calling?”

“This is Devon Dustdigger, from Sunstone Valley. You brought your vehicle here for upgrades and repairs?”

“Ah. Yes, I remember. Is there a problem?”

“Afraid so. The car isn’t wanting to cooperate with the singing gems and the fuel lines appear to be damaged, which is making the upgrades harder. I’m afraid we’re going to have to keep your vehicle for another week or two.” Zerrus let out an irritated yet silent huff. “We’re sending one of our boys over to the place you have listed as your residence with a vehicle for the inconvenience. We know you’re quite the busy woman.”

“You don’t have to do that. I can manage without the car for another week or two.”

“Maybe so, but we insist.” With that, the line hung up, leaving Zerrus to stare at the wall for a few seconds before planting her forehead against it. When she looked over her shoulder, she saw the confused look on Sans’s skeletal face.

“Those were the mechanics from Sunstone Valley. They said that my car has been giving them issues. They’re sending someone over with a second vehicle to compensate while they try to work it out.”

“is that a bad thing?” Sans inquired, leaning against the wall.

“Not exactly. I just hate when people give me things when they don’t have to.” She returned to rifling through the closet until she found what she was looking for – it was a dark blue long coat with a deep red fur lining. On a hanger looped around the coat hanger was a sleeveless bodysuit with the same red shade down the middle and thick aquamarine stripes down each side. On that same hangar was a pair of blue jeans with a brown leather belt loosely looped through. It was a suit she had set as a reserve for undercover missions in Underlust before their universe was melded into the core. It was the only clean outfit she had left that was still comfortable on her with the aches in her bones. “I’m gonna go get changed. I need to head out and take care of something.”

“i’ll come with you, when you’re ready.” Rolling her eyes, she stepped out of the room and into the master bathroom, quickly changing into the outfit and shivering slightly as the fur of the coat tickled her cheeks. The one part of the suit she hated the most was that it felt far too provocative to her, mainly due to the fact the suit hugged her body tightly and was meant exclusively for quick getaways while keeping her warm. When she exited the bathroom, she was partially surprised to see Sans still standing where he was when she went in there. “done getting dressed?”

“Almost. I ain’t going outside in my stocking feet.” She chuckled, bending down in front of him to grab her sneakers and slipping them on. She couldn’t help but notice the way he was looking at her – a mixture of surprise and something else. “What?”

“never seen you wear anything besides boots.” She stood up straight, a confused look on her face.

“Really?” Her only answer was a nod, leaving her to sigh at the blunt statement and the equally as blunt answer. “Well, it beats retying my boots all the damn time when I just need to run a quick errand.”

“what kind of errand?”

“I need to head into the Brairheart Sector and speak with Eggert the Mad.” Mentioning his name, Sans perked up a bit. The last time Sans had met Eggert was when she had turned into a pixie in entirety and was forced to be carried by him until she mastered how to distribute her weight properly without running the risk of breaking her bones, as well as learning how to hover as most pixies her age already knew how to do. Catching his change in body language, she held up a hand. “I know. The last time I saw the old coot, I ended up as a 3’6 shrimp that turned herself into a little backpack on your boney ass. But he’s the only one with the ancient knowledge I need to treat whatever the fuck’s been going on. He moved out from Blackspore and into Briarheart to work with Dr. Gaster.”

“hope he doesn’t give you another potion. the last one he gave you didn’t exactly help.”

“I understand how you feel, Sans.” She turned to leave her room when a thought hit her. “About last night… my offer still stands. You can move in if you want to.”

“trying to keep me from following you?”

“Not my intention, but if you want to interpret it that way…” She heard a knock coming from the downstairs. “That must be the mechanic. He sure got here fast. Probably used a Warpstone.” She trot down the steps and opened the front door, a dwarf that just barely towered over her standing on the other side. “Yes?”

“Rainbow Wind?” She nodded. He reached into his pocket and tossed a small gemstone in her direction. “Got ya a ride. We didn’t have any choppers to give ya, but we did have this thing from the ruins near the shop.”

She inspected the stone, her eyes flashing slightly in recognition. “This is ancient Precursor technology. Is this a hoverboard stone?”

“Yeah, I think so. I can’t ride that thing for the life of me, but from what the boss says, you’re quite handy with vehicles of all types. Hope this won’t cause any troubles.”

“It’s fine! You’ve done more than enough to help me.” She reached over to the table beside the front door and grabbed her wallet, fishing out a handful of coins and handing it to the dwarf. “For all the trouble.” Taking the money, the dwarf gave her a curt salute and drove away on his chopper he had parked in her driveway. Staring at the stone and shutting the door, she turned towards Sans’s direction. “Hope you don’t have a fear of falling off of surfboards or skateboards or anything like that.”

“why’s that?”

“Aww! Come on, Cherryboo! Why don’t you want to talk about it with us?” Faliko prodded. Cherry huffed in annoyance, Faliko had been pestering her about her investigation into her lineage and Zerrus’s condition for months since she had overheard her conversation with Yonk. She knew that as the Guardian of Kindness, she felt it was her duty to see to it that her fellow Guardians didn’t suffer, but this was truly trying her patience. It was times like this she wished she was more like Mippi with his endless supply of patience with whatever was thrown before him. With a glare, she stared at Faliko. “Please don’t give me that look…”

“Faliko, I understand that you want to help, but this isn’t any of your concern.” She turned away from her green-haired friend just in time to see her mother and Sans hoverboarding down the street. The look of confusion must’ve been written on her face because Yonk stopped in his tracks and turned to face Cherry fully with a similar expression.

“Seems that she’s off somewhere.” Yonk commented, his eyes searching for something. Cherry shrugged and continued walking. “You aren’t even going to ask?”

“Mom has always been a bit of a wild card with whatever she decides to do. Can never predict her next move.” Cherry disregarded quickly, turning off her normal path and in the direction of Muffet’s Bakery.

“Where are you going, Cherry?” Faliko asked, surprise lacing her voice at the break in routine. “Don’t you live the other way?”

“I do. But I’d like to say hello to Uncle Stretch.” Cherry noticed that only one set of footsteps were following along with her. Glancing over her shoulder, she only saw Faliko trail faster to walk side-by-side with her, no sign of Yonk anywhere near her.

Yonk has always been mysterious yet persistent when it came to Cherry and her wellbeing – including her mental state. Back when Zerrus was captured by Error and she and Yonk went to investigate her disappearance, he threw himself into danger all to protect her and to help her find the answers. While she was comatose, she was told that her had never left her side longer than he necessary to take care of his needs. It wasn’t a mystery to her that he had feelings for her – he had even confessed them.

And it seems that now, he still holds onto that mentality; his safety comes second.

Walking through the glass door of Muffet’s Bakery, a tingling sound of a bell rang above her head. Behind the counter displaying all sorts of delicious looking pastries and deserts was one of the Muffets from the gentler universes. She waved 2 of her six arms at the girls as they entered the bakery. “Hello, dearies~ Are you looking for Stretch, little Cherry?” asked the Muffet, her eyes glimmering at her in recognition. This indicated to Cherry that this Muffet was the one from the Swap universe, where Stretch had originated from.

“Yes. Is he here?” Cherry asked, glancing around the small shop for any signs of the tall, lazy skeleton.

“He’s in the back right now. Want me to get him for you?”

“No need. I don’t want to draw him away from work.” Cherry turned to sit in a nearby booth, staring at Muffet. “I’ll just wait for him. I’ve got nowhere to be right now.”

“I understand, dearie~ Let me know if you need anything.”

Cherry nodded, then set her head on her hand. “What are you planning, Yonk?”

Coming up the steep hill, Zerrus felt Sans’s skeletal fingers digging into her shoulders as he clung to her. She checked back once every few minutes to make sure that he was still on the board and he was handling the transport well. She could imagine that he felt slightly uneasy being on an unstable surface that was moving without his guidance. Her first time riding a hoverboard was quite the experience; she only lasted 10 seconds on the board before it spiraled out of control and sent her into a bush. When she focused forward on the road ahead as the light around them shifted from a vibrant bright sunshine to a misty violet overcast.

Upon clearing the top of the hill, she immediately let out a sharp gasp, kicking her foot on the back of the board in an attempt to stop. Her mind forgot that she had a passenger on board, as a result relying on both of them for balance, sending the board wobbling dangerously and catapulting her into the air, Sans falling off the side gracelessly and landing hard on his coccyx. Landing in a crumpled heap in the dirt, Zerrus groaned loudly as she cradled her right arm to her body. She had attempted to break her fall by rolling, but her reflexes weren’t as fast as they used to be – she was too slow to bring her hands up into a rolling position and as a result had either sprained, dislocated, or even broke her arm with how fast she was moving. Staggering up to her feet, she locked eyes with a small 12-year-old boy with platinum hair and violet eyes.

“Yonk…” Zerrus started, her arm throbbing as she let go of her injured arm and let it dangle by her side. He looked up at her, an expressionless look on his face. “Do you have any idea how RECKLESS that was?! I could’ve hit you!”

He shook his head, an emotionless smile drawn on his face. “I’m fully aware of that.” He snapped his fingers, his belt falling from around his waist and clanking on the ground. With a subtle wave of his hand, his “belt” hovered into the air and separated into 6 small objects, each one chirping with a series of beeps and gently hovering around his shoulder height.

“Why are you here?” Zerrus questioned, her eyes never leaving the devices. “I saw you back in Sanctuary not that long ago with Cherry and Faliko.” The sound of Sans shuffling to his feet and groaning in discomfort drew her attention for a moment. “You okay, Sans?”

“yeah. just peachy.” He grumbled, rubbing his buttbone and grimacing a bit. “how about you?”

“Pissed off mostly.” She replied, bringing her glare down to Yonk. He was still standing in front of her, his face relatively unreadable. “Are you going to answer my question?”

“I live here.” he answered plainly, his eyes locked onto hers, a dangerous glint in his pupil. She recoiled slightly upon seeing his right eye flash for a brief moment. The last time she was intimidated by a child was with Chara, but that fear was quickly squashed when she had remembered that Chara was a murderous psychopath. Yonk, on the other hand, was a complete wild card to her – she had only seen him show emotion once in her life: when she was brainwashed by Error and forced to attack Cherry. Ever since, she had barely seen a flicker of emotion come from him except when around Cherry. The look he was giving her now showed promise that she would suffer more than her crash already did. “Why are you doing this?” She flinched. Sans stopped his advancement to her side, eyeing Yonk cautiously before his eyelights blinked out. Yonk glanced over to Sans for a brief moment, before a slight smirk drew on his face. “Seems HE knows what I’m getting at.”

Turning her attention back to Sans, she noticed his eyelights and frowned. An increasingly bright glow was shining from under her coat collar, her free hand fingering at the collar to see the choker she was wearing was glowing a bright cyan. Her eyes darted between Sans, the light, and Yonk before she drew the connection. “What are you getting at exactly? Care to fill me in?”

Yonk scoffed, the devices shuddering and changing their positions to idly float above his head. “I figured you wouldn’t even remember. You barely even remember her as it is. What made me think you’d remember what you did?”

She bristled, her hair standing up on end and sucking in a sharp breath. “now hold on just a minute, kid.” Sans interjected, holding his arm out in front of Zerrus and keeping her rooted to her spot. “did you even stop to think that maybe she can’t do anything but remember?”

Yonk huffed audibly, the devices now angling their bodies to aim at Sans. “And just WHAT does she really remember? Does she remember nearly killing her own child?” He stepped forward, the devices wavering unsteadily. “Does she remember nearly destroying the Heartseed?” He swung his arm behind him. “WHAT DOES SHE REMEMBER?”

“i don’t think that’s any of your business.” Sans stuck his hands into his pockets, standing in front of Zerrus. Her eyes were glazing over, memories she had repressed forcefully due to her not being in control were forced to the front of her mind. She remembers feeling Cherry’s scythe dig into her body but felt no pain. She remembers being ordered to strike her down to teach them a lesson, the feeling of her blade cutting through her child’s body. She even remembers scouting the Seed and those devices of Yonk’s shocking her body until she convulsed on the floor.

As though he could hear her thoughts, Sans looked over his shoulder and looked at her, worry drawing on his skull. Shuffling forward, Zerrus pushed him aside with her shoulder and stopped in front of Yonk. “You want to know what I remember?” His violet eyes flickered for a moment, a single brow raising up. “I remember EVERYTHING.” She raised her uninjured arm and looked down at it, flashes of souldust flickering in her vision. “I wish I didn’t have these memories… that these bygones would remain as bygones…” She stared back up at the child, his gaze flickering to a darker shade. “How did you know I would be here? What do you stand to gain by reminding me of what I already remembered?”

“You can’t be serious… you really don’t remember?” He shook violently, rolling up his sleeve to reveal a small burn mark on his shoulder. “Your invention let me use your powers for as long as that thing was stuck to my body. But it seems you’re as crappy as an engineer as you are a parent.”

“low blow, yonk. she’s not a bad parent.” Sans snarled, magic crackling around him and Zerrus.

“You really think that? What kind of parent would try to kill their own kid?! What kind of parent would abandon them in a completely different universe?!”

“I HAD NO CHOICE!” Zerrus shouted, a sound similar to firecrackers exploding around them as tiny sparks of blue and red magic crackled around her. Her eye was twitching dangerously, her right eye glowing intensely with a reticle shaped pupil shining in the center. “I tried to protect her! Do you really think I wanted ANY OF THIS TO HAPPEN?!” She growled loudly, stomping past Yonk and leaving Sans behind as she darted into the hedge maze that led further into the Briarwood area.

“zerrus!” Sans called out after her, stopping short as he stared down at Yonk, his face still stoic. “just what the hell were you thinking?”

“She needed a wakeup call.” Yonk blankly responded.

“no. she didn’t.” He glanced up at Sans, a questioning look etched in his eyes. “she’s not the same person she used to be. the last reset didn’t do anything to help her, like it should have.”

“Do you really think what she’s doing now is helping anyone?”

“it’s all she can do, kid. you wouldn’t understand.”

“I know what she thinks.” Sans shifted to turn back to Yonk, his devices hovering back down to his shoulders. “You remember it, don’t you? The chip she engineered that gave me her magic?”

“yeah. what about it?”

“That chip not only gave me her magic… but it gave me a glimpse into her mental state of being. I’ve lived with flashes of her thoughts ever since that day.” He lifted his bangs, showing the circuit patterned markings on his forehead. “This is a scar from HER magic. Can you imagine how awkward it is to see thoughts that aren’t my own?”

“what exactly are you trying to say? what does that have to do with the verbal beatdown you just gave her?”

“Those weren’t MY words.” Yonk bluntly responded before turning his back to Sans and walking towards the direction of the Warpstone. “Find her. Ask her about the 3rd Birthday Bash in Sanctuary.” He stopped for a moment to point at the hedge maze. “Odds are she has veered off of the path to avoid being seen. Try near the western section of the maze. She’ll probably be hiding out of sight and thinking.”

“if you know what her thoughts are, what do you think she is thinking about?” Sans accused.

“Guilt.” Yonk vanished in a flash of blue, wind wrapping around him and sending him somewhere else. Sans turned to face the maze, his grin dropping into a frown. He remembers that Zerrus had told him that she has wandered every corner of the Sacred Grove during her time as a Royal Soldier, later earning the title of Rainbow Wind. Wracking his skull, he tried to figure out the connection between her and the ‘3rd Birthday Bash’, unsure what the connection could be. The last thing he’d want is to pressure her already fragile mental state by bringing up the memory if it was a bad one.

Sighing and dragging his hand down his face, he closed his sockets. “what the hell am i going to do with you, zerrus?”


	5. Tracing Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans is trying to understand Zerrus.  
Cherry may have found an interesting connection.  
Zerrus knows she's running out of time.

Rustling through the hedges that made up the Briarwood Maze, Sans clung to the western edge as Yonk had indicated, occasionally glancing down at his feet. The collar that he and the others had pooled together to get Zerrus had a unique tracking effect; invisible to others besides the owners of the magic used to seal the lock on the back, a faint magical fog acted as a guide to the location of the wearer, literally showing the pathways to take to get to their location. While he could have simply teleported to her location, he chose not to, instead relying on the tracking. The fog began to swirl around, and the path led directly into a wall of leaves. Approaching the wall, Sans touched at the leaves and felt that the surface wasn’t solid, instead giving way to his hands and revealing a small alcove with large mushrooms. Seated on one of the mushrooms with their legs drawn up to their chest was Zerrus, her eyes downcast and the fog slowly fizzling out. He was certain she hadn’t noticed him, given that she hadn’t reacted to the sound of him peeling the hedge back to the small hiding spot.

He was concerned. Zerrus wasn’t one to just run off and hide somewhere when she was upset – she fought back with a fury. The problems she had been experiencing with her soul must have been crippling if she wasn’t acting like her normal self when it came to Yonk. Stepping closer to her, he noticed that her eyes were completely glazed over. Frowning, he tried to glance at the collar in hopes of seeing how her soul was reacting without causing her any harm or drawing attention to him immediately. Due to her having hidden the collar under her jacket collar, he couldn’t see the light clearly. Stepping directly into her field of vision, he was surprised when she didn’t react. Instead, he could hear that she was muttering something under her breath.

“Tree… Seed… Heart…” her voice sounded distant, almost like a whisper. Sitting down on the mushroom adjacent from her, he crossed his legs, resting his skull on his hand. “Dark… Pain… Broken…”

“tree, seed, heart, dark, pain, broken? what does that mean?” he muttered, not trying to snap her out of her trance. Wracking his skull for anything she had told him in the past, he began to sift through. Zerrus had told him in the first timeline on their mission to stop the anti-monster group the story of how she had become Rainbow Wind. The Queen’s former advisor, Geoffrey had attempted to murder the Queen and sent her on a wild goose chase while he committed the crime. She had mentioned something about the Heartseed and Geoffrey using dark magic on her before she had struck him down.

Or so they had thought. Geoffrey was resurrected in the previous timeline and Zerrus had to embrace the role of the Soul Render to ultimately erase him from existence to prevent him from ever returning. A shocker to him and the others at the time when they watched her destroy him.

Shaking his head, he refocused on Zerrus. She was still seated in the fetal position on the mushroom, muttering the same 6 words over and over. Deciding that he had enough of watching her chant and look solemn, he opened his jaw. “hey, kid. c’mon. we have a scientist to visit.”

She lowly lifted her head, her eyes dark and unfocused and staring either through him or at him. “Eggert…”

“yeah. eggert. c’mon. shouldn’t keep him waiting for you.” He pushed off of the mushroom, offering his hand to her in hopes she would take it. Instead, she slumped forward and leaned against him. Wrapping his arms around her, he hoisted her up and situated her comfortably on his back. Her head was still slumped forward, eyes hazy and unfocused, but at least she was responding to him. He decided that it would be best that he doesn’t ask her about the 3rd Birthday Bash, focused on bringing her to Eggert in hopes that he would be able to understand what was happening to her and provide some answers.

Stepping back out onto the main path of the hedge maze, he glanced around for a moment, unsure of where Eggert would be. He remembers that she had said that he moved from Blackspore to Briarheart to work with Gaster. Remembering that, he reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone, scrolling through the contacts until he came up to his father’s number. Holding the phone to his skull, he shifted Zerrus up a bit higher. “Dr. Gaster.” Answered his father’s voice.

“hey, doc. got a slight problem here. zerrus is a bit out of it and was on her way to see eggert. we’re in briarwood now in the hedge maze. where are you guys at?”

“That bad?” Sans heard Gaster sigh quietly on the other end of the line, hushed voices speaking in the background. “You’ll find us near the Briarheart Palace, positioned near the Tanglewood Fort. I’ll send you the GPS coordinates. Get her here as soon as you can.” The line clicked, leaving Sans to stare at the phone for a moment before looking around the pathway.

A nearby human with dusty blonde hair was walking down the path, a heavy pack slung onto his back. Raising his hand and stepping in the way of the man, Sans shifted Zerrus up higher. “excuse me. do you know how to get to the tanglewood fort?”

The man eyed Sans for a moment before nodding. “Just head down this path and follow the briars. Stay away from spiderwebs.” He brushed past him, hastily and continued down the path before he was interrupted. Quirking a brow, Sans glanced over his shoulder to get a better look at Zerrus. Her eyes were still dark and foggy, her injured arm hung limply over his shoulder, angry red marks trailing up from her wrist and disappearing under the sleeve of her jacket. His grin dropping into a sharp frown, he focused his gaze forward. The downside of Zerrus having entered this comatose state of mind is that he couldn’t rely on her mental mapping of the Grove and lead him to the Fort. Additionally, with her current condition, she wasn’t contributing much if any to holding herself up or to cling to him to prevent falling off his back. A thought occurred to him almost instantaneously.

Shifting his grip on her lower legs, he thumbed around her pants pocket until he found a rounded stone. Pushing the stone out of the pocket and flipping it over in his hand, he eyed it carefully. It was the precursor stone that summoned the hoverboard that brought them here. He figured that if he could activate the stone, he could guide the board alongside him while he traveled through the briars in search of the fort with her sitting on top. He tried to remember how she had activated the stone. She had held the stone tightly in her hand until it sparked a bright cyan light, the board summoning seamlessly. Mimicking the motions she had done, he frowned harder when the stone didn’t glow.

Easing his grip on the rock, he thumbed idly at the surface, trying to figure out how it worked. He could feel a warming pulse under his thumb, a dull glow resonating deep within the stone. Narrowing his gaze on the precursor technology, he put the pieces together. The technology had a similar activation to that of monster magic: intent is everything. He changed his intent from simply trying to force the vehicle to form to coaxing it out, similar to drawing a soul out during an encounter. Almost instantly, the board popped into existence in a shimmer of cyan sparkles and hovered just in front of him. “where did this technology come from?” he questioned under his breath.

Zerrus shifted on his back, her arm twitching slightly. “Old… Lost…” she mumbled. His eyelights blew wide for a second before returning to their normal size. Shuffling her off of his back and onto the board, he tilted her chin to look him in the eyes.

“you still with me?” She didn’t change her position from where she was placed. Not even a twitch from her injured arm. Her left eye twitched, a subtle spark coming from the right eye. “guess i’ll take that as a yes…” He pocketed the stone, the light somewhat warming against his side from within its confines. As he walked forward, the board slowly followed with him, Zerrus still stationary on the board and staring forward, eyes still blank. “so… what was your errand supposed to be?”

“Help…”

“help? your errand was actually to ask for help?” A single spark from her eye answered him back. “is it about your condition?” Another spark. “what do you think eggert can do to help you?”

“Change…”

“change?” She remained staring, Sans having completely forgotten where he was going until he hit a fork in the road. Glancing around the area, he stilled. The traveler told him to follow the briars and avoid spiderwebs, but from where he was standing there was no sign of spiderwebs, and the briars sprouted from every direction. “where do i go from here?”

“Left…” Sans turned his head to look at her.

“take a left?” One spark. “alright. don’t worry, we’ll get you to the doc.”

Cherry was sitting comfortably on Stretch and Blue’s couch, staring down at the notebook in her hand and gripping the cover tightly. She has known from the beginning that her mother had reset, but she hadn’t known that the reason she did it went deeper than bringing back the Grove’s innocence. She had seen the signs so quickly that whatever actions she had committed had damaged her soul. At first, she thought it was because she was the Guardian of Integrity and had broken the code, but that thought was wiped clean over time. She flipped open the first page of her notebook and began rereading through her notes.

‘She is showing signs of soul damage, but her stats are the same. No raise in her LOVE, but I can see a twitch of violence in her from time to time. Look into further without drawing attention or running risk.’

She remembered writing that note. It was about 2 months after the RESET that she saw Zerrus lash out almost animalistically. Even though the anti-monster group was no longer a branch of the timeline thanks to the destruction of the soul responsible, there were some humans who detested monsters.

They were having a nice get together in Sanctuary during the seasonal event known across the Grove as the Super Spooktacular. It was an event similar to ancient human tradition and holidays like that of Halloween, but different. The one concept of the event that made it different was what her mother was a part of every year; humans and pixies alike that shared a similar trait of two of the most ancient forms of mythology would gather in the Bone Bog Cemetery of Blackspore and perform a sort of ritual. The ritual was to “banish” the entity everyone came to know as the Pumpkin Prince back into the spectral world. It wasn’t really a banishing, but more of an appeasement so he wouldn’t terrorize travelers.

Zerrus was part of one of the two packs that performed the ritual – a werewolf pack. She was seated across from Mippi at the time, casually talking to him and asking how he was doing with his adventures across the Sacred Grove when a passerby had said something about monsters blending in too well with everyone else during the season, making everything unsafe. Cherry remembers watching her mother stand up so fast from the bench and lunging at the human who had uttered the remark directed at monsters, grabbing their shirt so roughly that she heard the fabric snapping under the strain. The murderous look in her eyes was something that was never directed at a racist before, which was cause for alarm and why she began investigating into the violent outbursts.

It wasn’t until about a year ago she had linked that the outbursts were connected to her degrading soul. She turned the page of the notebook and found the inscription she had put down.

‘The red shine of DETERMINATION is fading, and the reason is unknown. Her skin is starting to look less healthy and her hair is starting to frizz out in patches. No normal illness for humans, monsters, or pixie match with the symptoms. Considering the possibility of Falling Down.’

That memory wasn’t as strong as some of the others, but what she did recall was coming home from school and watched as she stumbled about the house, almost lost in her actions and moving on instinct. When she had called out to her, she snapped out of it immediately. But when she was questioned about the behavior, she dismissed it and came up with an excuse of “going to do something but forgot what it was.” While it was common for just about anyone for such an occurrence to happen, it was unusual the way she was physically behaving in those moments. She didn’t call her out on it though.

She shifted on the couch as she skipped ahead to when Zerrus and Dat had separated. She was afraid that the loss of Dat in her daily life would have any contribution to Falling Down, but her notes hadn’t reflected that. If anything, she felt like Zerrus had been more relieved that he was no longer around – a possible indication that she didn’t want anyone to know what was going on because whatever was happening had progressed so far.

“I’M GLAD THAT MY BROTHER BROUGHT YOU OVER HERE, CHERRY! YOU AND YOUR MOTHER DON’T REALLY SPEND A LOT OF TIME AROUND US, ANYMORE.” Blue spoke from the staircase as he descended and sat down next to her.

Shutting the notebook to prevent him from reading the documentation she had done on her mother’s condition, she turned to face him and shrugged. “Well, she still has work as an Investigator to Queen Valerian. The Guard life just was too much for her with me around.”

“WHAT IS SHE UP TO RIGHT NOW, IF YOU DON’T MIND ME ASKING?”

“Ahh… Lord knows with her. She runs errands just about every day of the week. She’s either working for the scientists at the lab or she’s off doing something else.”

Blue’s large eyelights grew even larger. “SHE JUST LEAVES YOU HOME ALONE?”

“Not all the time. Uncle Sans is going to move in with us.” At the mention of his name, she jerked and grabbed the second notebook she had dedicated to the different tangent monsters. “Hang on a second…” she mumbled.

“something troubling you?” Stretch spoke from behind her, casually leaning over the back of the couch to look at what was written in the book. “did he say something to you that you just remembered?”

“No, nothing like that.” She flipped over to the page dedicated to her knowledge of the Undertech variant, the Underground Zerrus had apparently come from. The information she had on him was extremely limited. Tech shared a large similarity to the original Sans, but the difference was that his involvement with Zerrus was related to his job when her host soul had fallen. He had indicated that her host soul, which was once the ‘demon’ Resurz, had Fallen Down, leaving only the shell of the soul left behind. The Underground in Undertech was heavily invested in technology, both physical and magical alike. From what she understood, they used their technology to try to bring life into the soul.

They had succeeded after many different trials with the shell. The successful trial was Zerrus, an anagram of Resurz. She thought it seemed lazy, but it made sense when she found out that one of the engineers involved in her ‘creation’ was Tech. He had infused his own boss soul and combined it with a regular monster’s soul magic and created the ultimate hybrid.

She had only met Tech a couple of times during her very short stay in Undertech, the bitter memory of her departure was linked to the phantom soul of Resurz using something called an OMEGA Knife on her, literally dusting her arms in that timeline. Glancing down at her hands now, she feels phantom pains from that injury. Shaking her head, she tried to reorganize her thoughts.

Zerrus’s soul was identified by Error as the OMEGA Soul: the ultimate soul with the power to change everything within the fabric of time and space. She found his fear oddly misplaced given that he was considered a destroyer – the same thing he had classified Zerrus as when he had discovered his soulbond to her. Due to her pivotal role as a Guardian of the Grove, he couldn’t act in destroying their universe. How Tech and the monsters in their lab had engineered such a thing could have been seen as a threat to Error, but he never acted on the universe.

That’s when it hit her.

“Uncle Stretch… when was the last time you saw Uncle Tech?”

“last time i saw him was last gyftmas. he was talking with zerrus about something in her office.” He answered, resting his arms on the back of the couch and raising a brow. “why?”

“Did you PHYSICALLY see him?”

“not physically, no. he was on a video call on one of her monitors.” He narrowed his gaze in question. “why do you ask?”

“Something just doesn’t feel right. He never physically sees her despite the universal merge. It’s like he dropped off the face of the earth.”

“THAT DOES SEEM STRANGE. I HAVEN’T EVEN MET THE PAPYRUS FROM THAT AREA. I’VE MET OTHER MONSTERS THOUGH! THEY’VE TAUGHT ME MANY DIFFERENT THINGS ABOUT COOKING WITH THEIR TECHNOLOGY.” Blue added.

“So… Tech and Circuit are both missing…” Cherry stood up from the couch, strolling over to the window and looking in the direction of where the Undertech monsters were placed. “I think if I want more answers, I’m going to need to speak with someone.” She spoke to herself.

Zerrus could feel the gentle rocking motion of the board under her weight, Sans guiding her through Nestleseed and towards the Tanglewood Fort. It felt like she was in a damp fog, her brain drowning in a sea of thoughts. She was struggling to answer Sans when he asked questions, only able to squeak out short word phrases and hoping he would understand. She wasn’t sure just what was going on, but something Yonk had said triggered a reaction in her; her body almost shut itself down as if trying to block out the memory. She could feel his thoughts – that Sans wanted to know what happened. Part of the soulbond she had developed over the years with Sans, Red, and even Stretch had been reinforced to where if they felt a strong thought or emotion, she could pick it up. The same thing was applied with them. She could only imagine the mass confusion that Sans was going through trying to figure out what she was thinking with her mind being smothered.

She felt the board come to a stop, her body rocking forward slightly before settling. She lifted her heavy head and tried her best to hear through the constant ringing in her ears. There were sounds of people nearby, chattering about something and the sounds of gold clinking against each other. “what on earth is this? a marketplace?” Sans questioned.

“Market…?” she managed to clear her glassy vision and saw what he was referring to. Just outside of the Tanglewood Fort were people buying and selling various things they had with them. “Traders.”

“traders? this is normal?” Zerrus shuffled off the board and onto wobbly legs, stumbling forward a bit before Sans caught her arm. “whoa! slow down there.” She pulled herself upright while Sans supported her weight, her left eye glossing over until it sparked brightly. Easing his grip on her arm, he watched her shuffle forward until she came to a steep slope. “where are you going?”

“Passage.” Jogging over to her, he watched as she kicked at the ground until a chunk of foliage was knocked away, revealing a trap door. The trap door looked almost familiar to him until he remembered that Yonk had unearthed a similar door in the previous timeline that led into a torture chamber. “Disturbed.”

“what is?” Zerrus pointed at the foliage she had loosely kicked away. “are you telling me that someone has been here recently?” She nodded, bending down to grab the handle when magic wrapped around her. “i don’t think so. we don’t know if there’s someone still in there.”

She narrowed her gaze at him, a growl worming up her throat. “Time… is running out.”


	6. Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Change comes to us in different ways. Some good, some bad.
> 
> It is up to us to interpret the meaning behind that change.

Shoving the heavy wooden door with what little strength she had left, Zerrus stumbled forward and fell into the coarse dirt. Sans shuffled out as fast as he could from the dark corridor and bent down to help hoist her back to her feet. “you okay?” She raised her head only slightly, her skull felt as though it was made of lead, her eyes struggling to focus on her surroundings from the fast fall to the ground. Lifting her head further, she turned to look at Sans, worry etched onto his skeletal face. His eyes went from hers to something behind her. “sorry to drop in like this, doc.”

“It is no trouble, Sans. How is she doing?” the familiar voice of Gaster spoke, drawing her attention to turn and slowly look up at him. His normally professional posture shifted and went rigid, rushing over to her and placing a hand on her left cheek. He ran his thumb gently over her cheek for a moment before standing up, a small collection of phantom hands hovering around him for a moment before lunging at Zerrus. She immediately went to kick back and scramble away from how fast the hands lunged at her that she stumbled backwards into Sans, her free arm latching tightly onto his shirt and her feet failing to catch herself.

Two of the hands found their way behind her, gently pushing her up into a standing position. When she noticed what the hands were doing, she relaxed but her grip to his shirt remained. “This isn’t good, Sans. Zerrus, how long have you been feeling disconnected?”

She stared at him for a moment, unsure of how to respond with the thoughts that continued to flood her mind. She instead chose to cling tighter to Sans’s shirt, attempting to pull away from the hands to move closer to the radiating warmth that was her soulmate’s soul pulsing signals to calm her down. “i think it’s been about 3 years, maybe a little less than that.” Sans answered for her. With a deep sigh, Gaster stepped closer to Zerrus, her body again flinching from him when he attempted to touch her with the ghostly hands. “i don’t think she likes that.”

“Then we’ll do this another way.” He gently pried her fingers loose from Sans’s shirt and picked her up, her legs flailing slightly in protest to being picked up so suddenly. She conceded after a few moments when Sans gave her a reassuring look. “What do you know about her condition?” he started, walking towards the large building situated just near the exit of the tunnel they had taken.

“i don’t know too much about it besides that she thinks her determination was tainted.” Humming lightly, Gaster nudged open the door to the building, many eyes landing on the trio as they entered. “not sure what you can do to help though. she’s pretty adamant to keep us out of her business no matter how much we pressure her.”

Rough sounding footsteps pattered to the trio, Zerrus looking up long enough to see Eggert standing in front of them. “I knew she would be in poor condition, but this is not good. Not good at all!” he sputtered out, waving his branch arm for them to follow. “Please, this way!” Gaster hoisted Zerrus a little higher, following after Eggert with Sans shadowing behind them. “You really should have come here sooner, Miss Wind.”

“what’s wrong?” Sans asked, shoving his hands into his pockets as Eggert slowly examined Zerrus’s eyes.

“As best as I can see, she has begun the transformation.”

“what does that mean?” Eggert hopped up on top of a nearby stool, pulling at the right sleeve of her jacket, trying to pull it off without jarring the injury. Stepping forward, Sans reached up and gently unbuckled the clasps of the jacket, the fabric sliding down her shoulders and revealing more marks snaking up her arm.

“This is happening much faster than I had anticipated… or has ever been documented!” His branched hand slowly trailed down the markings, his one large pupil looking closely into her fogged ones. “The transformation is when a person with high amounts of Life Magic becomes tainted by a dark magic, usually associated with necromancy. The transformation starts by melding their bodies with the essence of the earth while their physical form slowly withers and dies in patches on the body.”

“so, her body is dying?”

“In a sense! These markings are an indication that some form of dark magic has entered her magic stream. Similar to seeing the veins in someone’s arm.” Eggert pulled the jacket free from her arms, Zerrus wincing slightly as her right arm was jostled. “Dr. Gaster, can you please look in her eyes for me?”

“Of course. What am I looking for?” Gaster complied, grabbing a small light and loosely grabbing her chin to hold her head up.

“You should find a spark of magic that isn’t hers. Her magic has always been pure and shiny. Dark magic is murky and more like a sludge.” Shining the light into her eyes, Gaster saw two sparks of magic – one blue and bright and the other black and faded. “Did you find something?”

“Two magic signatures. There is definitely dark tainting. Sans, you said that she has been different for about 3 years?”

“just about.”

“Has she said anything that seemed off?”

“when we entered the hedge maze. she kept saying the same 6 words in sequences of 3: tree, seed, heart, dark, pain, and broken. any idea what that means?”

“I don’t know everything about her past, if any at all really. But if I had to guess, it has something to do with the Great Tree’s seed, the Heart of the Sacred Grove. As for the last 3 words, it might be a message to us or for herself.”

Zerrus twitched, her left eye slamming shut and a pained groan working up her throat. “zerrus?” Eggert turned around from the cabinet behind him, his large pupil growing larger until it flashed a bright green color, Zerrus’s body locking into place and her right eye responding with a blue flash. “eggert, what’s happening?”

“Necromantic reaction.” Zerrus growled loudly, her right arm lurching forward before being caught by a faint green aura. “Just need to let her tire herself out.”

The sound of something close to bones cracking echoed in the room, Zerrus’s growling growing louder as the minutes passed and she continued to thrash. As she thrashed in the hold of Eggert’s green magic, her hair had fluffed out in rough patches and the mark she once had on her cheek had returned to a full bloom, spreading even further to where it had engulfed the entirety of her left eye and ear, solidifying into a chunk of bark. The angelic paper-thin wings slowly withered and broke away in flakes, falling to the examination room table in clumps. The panicked look in her right eye continued to flash blinks of bright blue magic, thin smokey trails hanging in the air for a few seconds before mixing with the air. The choker wrapped around her neck continuously flashed blue with a heightened mixture of cyan.

_Help… it hurts…_

Sans’s eyesockets blanked, a single iris lighting up in the void as he shoved by Gaster and placed a hand on her right arm, the bark that had consumed her arm stiffened for a moment before relaxing, her outstretched fingers having extended to claw-like features slowly relaxing and her left eye cracking open slightly. Her once vibrant red eye was replaced with a hollowed shell with a single blue glowing eyelight staring back at him. When their gazes locked, her eyelight pulsed at him, her clawed fingers twitching for a moment before a tear fell down her bark covered cheek. Running a hand gently along the surface, he wiped away the stray tear, the liquid more viscous than her normal tears were. “you okay?”

“This… is why… I hate… doctors…” she panted out, the eyelight flickering off for a moment to register an annoying poking on her scalp. Reaching her normal hand up to feel around her scalp and finding something poking out from under her hair. Feeling around the object, she found the base where it was connected and pinched, moving to pluck it free with a sharp intake of breath. When she pulled her hand back with the object in question, she found what looked like a leaf, the end gently stained in blood.

“is that… a leaf?” Sans turned his attention over to Eggert.

“Yes. I’ve never seen a transformation this fast before. I can imagine that it was excruciating.” Eggert lamented, scratching at his own head and plucking a leaf of his own, handing it to Zerrus which she began to examine in her hand while comparing to the leaf she pulled from herself. “It is important that you be careful should you decide to preen yourself of these leaves. Having too many leaves is the equivalent of a tick.”

“That’s good to know…” Zerrus bluntly responded, the screaming in her head having finally stopped. The look of concern on all 3 of the males’ faces didn’t go unnoticed, Zerrus making an identical look. “I have many questions…”

“I’m sure you do.” Eggert shuffled over to where her jacket was set down and handed it back to her. “I doubt clothing like this will be easy to fit with your new additions. It will take some getting used to, but what matters is you remain comfortable.”

“Zerrus.” Gaster spoke calmly, her eyes falling on his and humming a silent question. “What did your words ‘tree, seed, heart, dark, pain, broken’ mean?”

She froze. Ever since the battle of the previous timeline, she’d been haunted with visions of the Heartseed being consumed by darkness. Even the vision of the Archangel was corrupted and broken, always trying to condemn and punish her for the sins she had committed. Sighing, she scratched at the section of skin between the bark and flesh, her brow furrowing. “The Great Tree… I keep seeing visions of it swallowed by darkness. The Seed was broken… not like it is now where Lady Darkthorne had taken half of it, but more shattered.”

“And what about ‘heart, pain’? What does that mean?”

She flinched, sliding off the examination table and grabbing her jacket, tying it loosely around her waist. “I’m still trying to figure that out myself.” Walking towards the door, she wobbled slightly with each step, her balance having been messed with due to the new weight distribution. “How do I keep ending up in these messes…?”

Sitting comfortably in her home, Cherry watched as Red and Stretch chatted casually with each other, one telling stories of his Underground while the other spoke about the differences. She wasn’t sure how the conversation had started, but she knew how Red had managed to pop up into her house. While Stretch was walking Cherry home, so she wouldn’t be alone, he had stopped in the middle of the sidewalk with a grim look on his face. When she had asked him what was wrong, he merely shook his head and told her not to worry about it. When they got to the front porch, Red had popped into existence right next to her, his eyelights frantically looking for something when he realized that Cherry was there. Instead of asking her the question she was expecting to hear, Red had instead asked if it was okay if he stayed in their house for a while.

Now she was watching the edgy skeleton chatting with a bright counterpart to his brother, her mind still reeling at how the universes had managed to merge. Pushing herself from the cushions, Cherry made her way upstairs. She passed by her mother’s office before stopping in front of the door, her eyes wanting so desperately to peer through the wooden barrier and into the past to understand more about her job. More importantly, she wanted to learn more about Tech and Circuit. Out of all of the different versions of monsters, the Undertech monsters were still a complete mystery to her.

Looking over her shoulder, she cracked open the office door with a muted click and stepped inside, hoping that Red and Stretch didn’t see her or come looking for her. Inside the dark office were monitors lined along one wall and a whiteboard attached to the other. Approaching the monitors, Cherry saw what appeared to be a bar graph with the names of different regions, a line graph labeled as H.S.L.M. and a blank monitor. Turning her gaze away from the monitors, she strode towards the whiteboard, mathematical equations written along the surface with several erasure marks in areas where there was a circle. Despite being a child, Cherry was aware of how college level mathematics worked, but without a concept of what was written and what the equation represented, she couldn’t ascertain what the numbers meant.

She heard a click from behind her, her body swinging around quickly towards the source of the noise. The once blank monitor had kicked on and was producing a slight humming noise as the screen came into focus. On the monitor was none other than Tech, his skeletal features displaying confusion for a moment before settling on surprise. “is that you, cherry?” he spoke, his reticle shaped eyelights roaming her tiny form.

With a smirk, she crossed her arms. “In the flesh, which is more than I can say for you or your brother.”

Blue tinted sweat was beading up on his skull, the stone embedded on his ribcage pulsing for a moment before returning to its normal state. She immediately recognized the flashing of the stone as a code that displayed on a monitor set up on the desk. The word **CAUGHT** was displayed in a code input program. “what do you mean?”

“Please don’t play stupid with me… it doesn’t suit you.” Cherry barked. The stone pulsed again, and the word **CONFUSED** came up in the box. “There’s something I don’t understand: Where are you and Circuit? The Underground universe codes were merged with our world, but you and your brother are nowhere to be seen. And I know that there are monsters from your Underground in the world… so, where are you?”

With a sigh, Tech sat up from his seat and walked to the end of the room the display was showing. He was pacing awkwardly, his stone continuously pulsing at different intervals and multiple messages popping up in the command prompt window. **HOW**, **EXPLAIN, REASON**, and finally settling on the word **CONCEDE**. “well kiddo, it’s a bit more complicated than i can really explain it as. you really should ask your mother about this.”

“That’s not an option. Mom won’t tell me anything without deflecting the questions.”

Shaking his head, Tech sat back down at the desk and rest his cheek on his hand. “what do you want to know first?”

“Can you try to explain why you and Circuit aren’t here physically? I’ve only ever seen you and on the monitors.”

“that’s a complicated situation, as i had said before.” Tech leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling. “you remember how zerrus was designed from the soul of an empty human shell and mixed with my magic, right?” Cherry nodded. “well, with that logic it would make plausible sense that zerrus is me.”

“So… you ARE here. But you aren’t.”

“pretty much.”

“But what about Circuit? Based on that logic, wouldn’t it make sense that Aunt Rayne is him?”

With a dark sigh, he shook his head. “no. zerrus did have a brother.”

“This is the first I’m hearing about that.”

“then that’s as far as i’m going about that. you should bring this up with her. this isn’t my place to tell you about him.” Bringing his eyelights back up to the monitor, he reclined in his seat. “anything else?”

“That’s all I need to know. Thanks Tech.”

“hope i answered what you needed to know.”

“You did. Thanks.” With a half salute, the monitor flicked off and Cherry was left sitting in the dark office again. When she turned to leave the room, she noticed that the command screen had displayed a new word.

**SORROW**.

This confused her. Why would Tech feel sad talking about her uncle? Had something happened to him? Before she could allow herself to be trapped in her own thoughts, she heard the front door open downstairs followed by a loud and angry sounding shout.

“**w h a t t h e f u c k?!**” Shuffling out of the office and carefully shutting the door, Cherry ran over to the banister and looked toward the front door. Standing in the doorway was Sans and her mother. Zerrus was hunched over slightly with part of her face hidden behind the fluff of Sans’s hood as she hid behind him. “care to explain what the fuck ya did this time?!”

“I didn’t do this.” Zerrus calmly replied, a clawed arm coming up from behind Sans and grasping at his hand. “This is actually normal, all things considered.”

“normal? you call turnin’ into a damn tree as normal?” Red shouted, a single flaming red eye burning in his socket. Upon hearing those words, Cherry stepped down the steps to where she was standing face to face with Zerrus. She recognized what it was that Zerrus had turned into. Turning to face the very angry skeleton, she stared with a passive look on her face. “cherry, ya can’t tell me yer fine with this…”

“I don’t have any control over this just as much as she does.” Cherry blankly replied. “I learned in class that when a pixie reaches the end of their magic life or is tainted their bodies decompose and merge with the purest form of magic in the world. In this world, the purest form of magic is nature itself having been weaved by the deity Ayani.” She casually turned away from Zerrus and the skeletons, sitting down on the couch and turning on the television. Red turned back from Cherry to stare down Zerrus, her hand still clinging tightly to his softer counterpart.

“how the hell can yer kid be so calm about all this?” Red redirected back to Zerrus. She shrugged, casually hanging her jacket on the nearby coat rack. “and how the hell can you be so calm about this?”

“Red… with all the shit I’ve been through, do you really think I am rattled by much of anything anymore? At this point, I take things with a pinch of salt.” She shambled by him and stood in front of Stretch, craning her neck to look at his face. “Hey, Stretch. Haven’t seen you in a while.”

“same. how have you been?” Stretch greeted back, slinging an arm around her shoulder as they both sat down on the couch beside Cherry. Red and Sans had retired to the kitchen, discussing the recent developments with Zerrus’s health. While Zerrus and Stretch catered on with their conversation and catching up, Cherry began ruminating about how to learn more of her uncle.

She knew that confronting Zerrus directly will only lead to her dismissing the situation, as she does with every other problem or painful past memory. Based on how Tech had reacted when bringing up her uncle, Cherry was certain that something bad had happened either between them or to him. Since confronting her mother directly was out of the question, she hatched an idea. “Hey mom?”

“Yeah, Cherry?” Zerrus responded, leaning forward slightly to look at her.

“How’s Aunt Rayne been? I haven’t seen her in person.”

“Hm… you know, I haven’t really asked her. She and I never really talk. Last we spoke, she was getting married.”

“you don’t talk with your sister? i can’t imagine going a day without my bro greeting me.” Stretch remarked, scratching his chin in thought.

“Yeah well, Sis never really accepted much of anything I ever did with my life. We never got along like you guys and your brothers. Hell, even Red gets along better with his brother than I do with her.” She scowled slightly, her branched arm digging into the fabric of the couch by Stretch’s leg, causing him to shuffle slightly away from her. “God knows how’d she’d react to seeing me like this now.”

“She might be more accepting than you’d think, mom.” Cherry supplied. She had only ever seen pictures of Zerrus with Rayne, but they had never met before. She was always busy with business involving the Royal Guard and the Counsel, barely having time to be there with Cherry as it was. With the recent development caused by the changeling transformation, Zerrus will be forced to retire to a much more simplified life due to her body no longer producing healthy quantities of Life Magic.

But Zerrus was sending signals that indicated that she and her Aunt Rayne didn’t get along well if at all. She was partially curious how she would react to meeting her, but it seemed that Zerrus was uncomfortable with the thought of approaching Rayne about anything. Zerrus looked up from the floor, shaking her head. “I’d have to think about it.”

Zerrus stood up from the couch and left the room, shutting herself away in her office. Heaving a sigh, Cherry looked between Stretch, Red, and Sans. “Well? What do you guys think?”

“about what? the mess yer mom has found herself in again or her sister?” Red inquired, plopping down beside Cherry and bouncing her slightly on the couch.

“Both, I guess.” She began twiddling her thumbs. “I kinda figured that mom would go through something like the Changeling Change, but it’s about her and Aunt Rayne. I think she should talk to her. She might get the emotional support she needs to keep herself from turning into one of the feral changelings.”

Silence hung in the air around them for a while, the air growing thick before Sans sighed.

“i think you’re right, cherry. rayne may be the only one to snap her out of this.”

“how do we get her to spill the contact information though? i doubt it’d be as easy as lookin’ her number in the phonebook. we only know the first name.” Red added. The trio of skeletons and Cherry shared looks between each other, wracking their skulls for a solution to the small problem. “this would be a hell of a lot easier if we knew what region she lived in…”

“talking to her is out of the question. she made it pretty clear that she doesn’t have a good relationship with her sister. she even said that you guys have a better relationship than she does. that’s got to mean something.” Stretch pointed to Red, casually lighting a cigarette and reclining back against the cushion.

“yeah, that does sound kinda scary. what on earth did she do to her to think that me and boss have a better relationship?”

“So many questions, but we’re asking the wrong ones.” Cherry stated, crossing her arms and staring at the pictures hung up above the television. On the wall were 3 pictures: one of Zerrus, Dat and Cherry under the tree in spring, one of Zerrus and all of her soulmates – Error standing off at a distance and looking miserable for being there, and one of Zerrus and Rayne. The picture of Zerrus and Rayne looked strained: Zerrus’s eyes looked emotionless and her smile looked forced, Rayne looked unusually angry at Zerrus and the smile was just as forced as Zerrus’s. Standing up from the couch, Cherry stepped up in front of the TV and pointed at the picture. “We need to find out what happened at THIS point in time.”

“she does look rather upset. both of them do… but for different reasons.” Sans noticed, grabbing the picture frame and unscrewing the back. He pulled the photo from the frame and looked at the front of the picture. “there’s a date here. november 14th, 2012.”

“That’s before my time. I was born in 2017.” Cherry shook her head.

“and that was before monsters were released from the underground.” Stretch sighed, flicking his cigarette ashes into a glass ashtray. Cherry never quite understood why Zerrus had that ashtray when neither Dat nor Zerrus smoked, but she didn’t bother to question it. Zerrus was one of those homeowners that honestly didn’t care if you smoked in her home, so long as they disposed of their ashes. “i think we need to ask someone who zerrus has known for years… before monsters came up to the surface.”

Another moment of silence hung in the air. Then it hit her.

“Dat.” The skeletons turned to look at Cherry. “Mom has known Dat for years. He’ll know more about that day.”

“kid, we don’t even know where he is.” Red shook his head. “where the hell would we even begin to find him?”

“Well… I’d think that she’d be more open to telling me where she knew he last was as opposed to where Aunt Rayne lives. Dat did raise me for a while alongside you, Sans.”

“you hold a point…” Sans muttered. “it feels wrong sneaking around behind her back like this.”

“We don’t have a choice.”


	7. Accepting the Reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zerrus has no choice but to accept her new reality.  
Cherry wants answers to what happened to Circuit and between her mother and her aunt.

“**No.**” Zerrus growled, standing up hastily in her chair and squaring her chest at Red. “I won’t allow you guys to enter that sector.”

“then what the hell is he doin’ there?” Red challenged back, leaning against the only exit to the office. “ya better talk. it’ll make things a lot easier on ya and on me.”

“To hell with this…” She went to brush by Red when he grabbed her arm in a tight grip, stopping her advance. Zerrus’s branched arm lunged at his ulna, casually slamming his much larger frame onto the floor. Moving from the stunned skeleton, she went to leave the room when he grabbed her ankle, effectively tripping her and causing her chin to bounce off the rough wooden floor. Rolling over and moving to dislodge her ankle, she was caught off guard by Red straddling her smaller form and pinning her arms under his kneecaps, made possible by her much shorter height. When she glared back at his face, she wilted slightly. His left eyelight was burning a blinding crimson light but his grin was widely smug.

“you really can’t think you’d have the upper hand here.” he chuckled darkly. “yer lettin’ us take the kid to see her dad.”

“I thought YOU guys were her fathers?” she shot back, a smirk drawn on her lips and the hollowed eye blinking a bright cerulean light.

“okay, smartass. we’re takin’ the kid to see her guardian.”

Kicking her legs upward, she slammed her shoes into Red’s spine, causing him to lurch forward with a grunt, his eyelight blinking out until his sockets were completely void of light. Taking advantage of his moment to recollect himself, she scoot herself downwards and between his legs until she had slid free and was kneeling behind him. “I wouldn’t try that again if I were you, Red. Next time, I won’t hold back.” Just as she warned him, he turned around with a loud and guttural growl, red magic winding its way around her soul before slamming her against a wall and pinning her there. Raising her gaze back to his, she huffed. “Okay… that may have been a bad move.”

“**ya think?**” he snarled, closing the distance between their faces until his breath ghosted on the half-flesh half-bark of her skin. His hand slowly shot up to her face, cupping her cheek slightly as his fingers dug into her scalp. Zerrus yelped when she felt Red pluck something from her head, pulling back to show a leaf, stained in blood. “ya can’t be fightin’ anymore. not unless ya wanna turn yerself into a goddamn bush.”

“You – a Fell monster… are telling someone to use MERCY?” Her blue eyelight engorged for a moment before returning to its regular size. “Never thought I’d see the day…” She wiggled slightly, still pinned against the wall, her feet dangling off the ground. “Mind putting me down now?”

“are ya gonna let us take the kid to see dat?”

“Are you gonna hold me here until I say ‘yes’?” Red quirked a brow at her. “I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ then. Fine. Go.” The pressure around her soul eased, dropping her onto her feet. Running a hand through her hair, she found a few more leaf sprouts starting to bud under her hair. “Just keep a close eye on things, okay? That sector is known for its high concentration of magic. That’s why monsters don’t inhabit that region. There isn’t a universal merge code that can withstand that amount of raw magic.”

With a wave and a poff of magic, Red vanished from the office and left Zerrus to stand there in defeat. She wasn’t entirely sure that he’d listen to her warnings. She knew that Cherry could withstand the magic in the air due to her more physical nature, but monsters were made primarily of magic. It’s why she knew that the others were able to pick up on her stress due to the magic tainting and why she had to put up a deflective front to keep them from knowing. Too bad for her though that Lust could practically SMELL her lies. She wasn’t able to hide it from him, and not for the lack of trying.

At the mere thought of Lust, she stiffened. She wasn’t sure how he’d take to her transformation, let alone Error or god forbid Tech. Glancing at the monitor that Tech often used to establish a communication link, she brushed off her arm and approached. As if sensing her approach, the monitor flicked on to a very angry looking Tech staring at the screen, his arms crossed and his grin downcast. The stone on his chest was pulsing steadily until the message **ANGER **was displayed. “Yeah… I get it.” she started.

“why didn’t you tell me?” Tech began to interrogate, Zerrus shuffling her desk chair to sit in front of the monitor and fishing out a box of pocky from a drawer. “did you happen to forget that you share my magic?”

“I get that, Tech. I really do. But how was I supposed to explain this to you? “Oh hey, Tech! How are you? By the way, my DETERMINATION has been tainted and I’m slowly dying!” Yeah… like that’d go over well…” She looked down at her branch arm and picked off a loose section until it came free. Underneath the hard layer that occasionally flaked off was an even harder layer that couldn’t easily be penetrated. “And before you ask, I know what I have to do about this new problem.”

“and what exactly is that?”

“Live with it.” The word **WORRY** flashed on the monitor. Zerrus popped one of the candy sticks between her teeth and nibbled. “There’s nothing I can do about this. It’s already happened, and the process can’t be reversed unless I RESET. Even then, I refuse to break that promise again just because of something that will inevitably happen anyways.”

“have you asked the others about this solution?”

“The answer is no. I won’t do it.” she stood up from the chair swiftly, knocking it over. “Even if they said they wouldn’t mind if I did or gave me the go ahead, what about what Cherry, Yonk, Faliko, Vertigo, Dat, and Mippi? They are just as affected by my actions as everybody else, but the difference is that they REMEMBER.” Zerrus went to stuff her hands into her pockets when her hand brushed against a stone. Pulling the stone free, she frowned deeper as she remembered what Yonk had said to her. “Yonk remembers everything. He has made it clear that he doesn’t approve of any of my actions.”

“what does it matter?” Zerrus brought her attention back to the screen. “if you, a guardian, were to die because of the transformative state you’ve found yourself in, you’d have to reset anyways.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” Calling forward her SOUL, she narrowed her eyes. The trait of DETERMINATION had all but completely been consumed by her INTEGRITY trait. Closing her eyes and focusing again, she attempted to call out the power to RESET. When she had reset the timeline before, she was presented with two hovering panels: one had said CONTINUE while the other had said RESET. This time, when she called on the power, nothing happened.

A notification popped up on the sidebar of the monitor where Tech was displayed. She was texted and her phone messaging she had wired to the monitor pulled it forward.

**red **1:37 PM

dont think ur gonna sneak outta the house

called in a babysitter for ur plant ass

“Well, that’s just great. Who is he sending over here?” Her question was answered as the faint blue glow of the choker was being consumed by a vibrant purple. “Oh no.” She turned towards her office door; her eyes narrowed. She knew that Lust was very close by, but she wasn’t sure just where he was in her house. Cautiously approaching the door out of her office, she held her breath and listened closely for the telltale sounds of Lust’s boots on the hardwood floors. She heard movement near…

HER BEDROOM.

Yanking the door open swiftly, she charged out of the office with her left eye completely darkened. When she reached her bedroom, she found Lust standing in the middle of the room. “MIND EXPLAININ’ WHY THE HELL YER IN HERE?!” she snapped.

“it’s not like your door was shut.” Lust calmly spoke, completely unphased by Zerrus’s display of anger. He chuckled as he approached one of the newer additions to her room. “i never pegged you as a gal to leave your socks lying around. or to leave your papers lying around in the corner.”

“That’s ‘cause those aren’t mine. I think you know that.” A cheshire cat-like grin drew on his teeth. “Red… he told you to babysit me, didn’t he?” His grin dropped.

“no, actually. i came here on my own free will.”

“Then… who did he call?”

The sound of someone opening the front door seemingly echoed through the house, Zerrus glancing towards her opened bedroom door for a moment before staggering backwards. “You home, Zerrus?”

“Vertigo?”

Stepping out of her room with Lust shadowing behind her, she looked over the banister. “Ah. There you are.” Vertigo had been known in their group as a closet friend; he never spoke much in large groups, remained mysterious, but was reliable when they needed him for something. They never knew where he was or lived at, but he was incredibly easy to contact and was just as quick to respond. Scratching the top of his head and ruffling his fur, he stared at Zerrus. “What the hell happened to you?”

“I think you know.” Zerrus shot back venomously.

“Pixie thing?”

“Pixie thing.”

“Got it.” he unbuckled the bandolier that hung across his chest and placed it on one of the coat hooks, then strode over to the recliner and sat down. “I’ll be here.” His one golden eye and red eye glanced at her and then to Lust standing behind her. She heard a huff of laughter coming from him. “I won’t bother you two. Just try to keep it down, will you?”

Zerrus felt her face heating up quickly with anger and embarrassment at the assumption, her hair ruffling up and the leaf sprouts digging into her scalp, her left eye felt as though someone had set a match to it, her branched claws digging into the wood of the banister. “THE HELL YA TALKIN’ ABOUT, FUZZLORD?!”

“Fuzzlord? That’s a new one.” Vertigo responded with a wide smile. “You really don’t want me to spell it out for you, do you?”

“I don’t need you to spell ANYTHING out because NOTHING is happening!”

“That’s not what it looks like from here.” She choked on her spit, growling loudly in exasperation before turning around to head back into her office. In her blind haste, she smacked face first into Lust’s groin, causing her to recoil swiftly with her eyes darting back and forth between his face and the floor. Vertigo burst out laughing, tears prickling at the corner of his eyes. “Now it REALLY looks different from here!”

Placing a skeletal hand on her shoulder, Lust chuckled lightly. Zerrus was about to reprimand him for laughing at the situation, but the words were lost on her when her eyes focused on his eyelights. Lust knew better than to approach her about anything regarding her discomfort, and as such she could sense that he was trying to reassure her that everything was fine, and it was merely an accident. It wasn’t like she had any control over her physical height. “the only situation here is that she and i have to talk about something. her running face first into my crotch was a coincidence.”

“Coincidence… sure.” Vertigo coughed, scratching his cheek and smiling wolfishly at them. “The only coincidence I see here is that Zerrus is a tiny bush.” Confusion drew on Lust’s face while Zerrus stared at the wall for a moment before her left eye burst in a bright flash of light.

“You… are an ass…” Zerrus bluntly remarked before turning back around and tugging at Lust’s hand to follow her. “C’mon, smutbones. I got some explaining to do.” Hesitantly following her into the office, Zerrus shut the door silently before shuffling back towards the computer and opening the desk drawer with her stash of goodies. “Want anything?”

“no need, love. do you mind telling me what happened to you since we last spoke?”

Grabbing her already opened box of pocky and fishing out one of the sticks, she shut the drawer and reclined against the desk chair. “Not much to really say about it. I guess I can give you a crash course in Life Magic and pixie biology. Have a seat.” She gestured to the couch on the far end of the office, an unfolded blanket haphazardly thrown on the piece of furniture. When Lust settled on the couch, Zerrus scratched at the back of her ear covered in bark. “To make it short and sweet, when a pixie’s Life Magic reaches the end of its purity, they turn into… well… this.” The alarm in Lust’s eyes was so evident that she raised her hand passively towards him. “Relax. I ain’t dying.”

“you are a guardian of this world. isn’t it written in stone that your magic is to remain pure? what will become of your position?”

“A good question really. I don’t actually know.” Zerrus hung her head low, sagging her shoulders. “Look Lust, I’ve already asked so much of you and the others and I just wouldn’t feel right asking any more. And please don’t give me that ‘you’re my soulmate’ shtick. I’ve heard it a thousand times by Sans and Red.” A sharp pain hit behind her eyes, shutting them so fast and staggering forward. When the pain had finally subsided long enough for her to focus on what had happened, she turned to look at the monitor. “I think the phrase “down, boy” comes to mind right now. Calm down will ya?”

“how am i supposed to calm down when another me, a _provocative_ me is in that room with you?” Tech snapped, his eyelight flashing brightly. Consequently, Zerrus’s eyelight began blinking in synchronicity with Tech’s.

“Trust me, this bone bag knows better than to try anything without my initiation. Last time he even tried to touch me without permission, I had side kicked him into a wall.”

“that’s true. love’s got some fire.” Lust affirmed. “besides, who are you exactly? i’ve met the other versions of me, but never you.”

“that’s not important or any of your business.” With a dark scowl and a click from the monitor, Tech vanished from sight.

“Real smooth, dude.” Zerrus groused, moving back to the couch and rubbing her forehead. “All of this drama is wearing me down. How much longer ‘til I completely break down?” A hesitant hand found its way to her back, rubbing small circles.

“just rest, love. nobody said you had to entertain guests today.” Standing up from the couch and simultaneously draping the blanket over her, Lust smiled. “i’ll see myself out.”

“No need. You can stay.” Lust stilled on his way out of the office, turning to look at Zerrus with a raised brow. “I gotta get used to your presence for more than an hour at a time anyways. If I can’t fully let my guard down near you, can I even really call you my soulmate?”

“i guess i can’t really argue that logic.” He sat on the opposite side of the couch, crossing one leg over the other. “so… aside from this new change, how have you been since we last spoke?”

Stepping into the dense cloud of magic that hovered over the forest, Cherry and the skeletons that had followed her stopped to look at their surroundings. Cherry could feel the raw magic that swallowed the treetops seep into her pores. It made her skin tingle. Worry began to flood her senses. “Are you guys okay?”

“i’m fine.” Red dismissed, staring up at the fogged canopy of the tree line. “what the hell is this fog anyways? this the magic concentration yer mom was warnin’ me about?” Cherry turned to face Red. “what? did i say somethin’ weird?”

“Mom warned you about this place? And she still let you take me here?”

“now, before ya get all snippy… she was warnin’ me, sans, and stretch. not you. she said somethin’ about the magic concentration around here bein’ so strong that it’s bad fer us monsters.” He sniffed at the air slightly before coughing. “smells too damn sweet fer my likin’.”

“did zerrus say anything about why dat was in this area?” Stretch asked.

“The only thing I know is that Dat has been looking for his soulmate. He ended up here.” Cherry glanced around the forest floor, hoping to find some form of identifiable fauna or creatures to help her figure out what magical region they were in. The magical fog indicated that they were in a Shrouded Glade region, but the local fauna and creatures were suggesting that they were closer to Merry Vale. This made no sense to Cherry because her geological memory from her history and science classes didn’t match up. There was no way Merry Vale, which was located in the South-Western section of the Sacred Grove could have a magic fog from Shrouded Glade – an area in the North-Eastern sector. “Something isn’t right.” She split up from the group to approach one of the giant flowers that sprouted and wound itself around an exposed tree root.

Gently thumbing the petals of the giant flower, she retracted her hand and looked at the pollen on her fingertips and frowned. “what’s up?” Stretch inquired, stepping up to Cherry and looking at the residue.

“These flowers have a very similar makeup to common Merry Vale flora…” Cherry started, stopping when she noticed how uncomfortable Red appeared. “Red, are you okay? We’ve only been in this region for a few minutes and you look like you’re about to drop.”

“nothin’ fer ya to worry ‘bout, kid.” Red dismissed. Cherry narrowed her eyes at him, crossing her arms and tapping her foot. She could see the red sweat beading on his skull before he quickly looked away from her scrutinizing gaze. “stop lookin’ at me like that. seein’ that look aimed at myself is creepin’ me out.”

“is that a shoeprint on your back?” Sans asked, leaning closer to Red’s back and eyeing the print on the black fabric. Red whipped around to stare down Sans, a scowl on his face and the sweat beading faster.

“yer just seein’ things.”

“Mom kicked your ass, didn’t she?” Cherry deadpanned.

“looks more like his spine.”

“yer wrong. she didn’t kick my ass.” Red was quick to correct. “she just kicked me. that’s it.”

“Did you corner her?” Red refused to answer, staring at anything besides Cherry. “There we go. When she gets cornered, she lashes. You should have known that.”

“just forget ‘bout it, alright?! what’s so strange ‘bout that flower there?”

“Well, I’m not a botanist but I am familiar with how the flowers in Merry Vale differ greatly from flowers anywhere else. The giant flowers are a characteristic of that region and ONLY that region.” She stepped away from the flower and stepped closer to the skeletons. “But something is different here. We traveled through a Warpstone in Sanctuary to the Shrouded Glade sector. That’s a NORTHERN section of the Grove and we felt that pull to the north. Merry Vale is located to the south. But what’s confusing me is why there are flora similar to Merry Vale in a Shrouded Glade sector?”

“the hell would i know? boss and i live closer to briarwood. we don’t know shit about-“ A condensed ball of sparkling energy rocketed towards Red, his eyelights enlarging for a moment before he sidestepped from the energy’s trajectory and growling loudly. “what the fuck?! who did that?!”

Turning on her heel toward the direction the magic was thrown from, Cherry focused her power into forming a scythe and holding it to her side. “Identify yourself!” Another ball of energy shot forth, whizzing by her cheek, sizzling some of her bright red hair and impacting against a tree behind her, a loud curse spilling from Red’s mouth. “Why are you attacking Red?!” She raised her scythe, her grip white knuckled and a dangerous aura circling her. “I won’t ask again. Identify yourself!” This time, the sound of something physical made contact with the forest floor, hidden in the thick mystic fog that surrounded them. “Step forward so we can see you.”

“He does not belong in this sacred place.” Responded a wispy voice, a pale skinned woman stepping out of the fog and into the group’s field of view, a white robe adorned, and a golden shawl draped over her shoulders, her face concealed by a hood. “Leave now, LOVE demon.”

“LOVE demon? Wait. Are you referring to his Level Of Violence?” Cherry lowered her scythe slightly, caught off guard by the cloaked woman’s observation. When her stance hadn’t changed and Cherry could see evidence of another spell being charged in their palm, she stepped in front of Red, her weapon raised in front of her. “He is no threat to your forest. We are here seeking a Guardian.”

“What business does a LOVE demon have with a Sacred Guardian of the Grove?” The woman raised her hand, levitating a condensed energy ball pulsing with holy magic. “His existence in here is a danger to us. Leave.”

“So, he IS here?” Cherry raised a hand, condensing a ball of red energy into her hand and holding it in front of her chest. “I am the Guardian of Determination. These monsters are my escorts.”

The cloaked woman eyed her for a long moment, the magic in her palm shattering in a shower of bright particles. “Forgive my skepticism, but this is the first time I’ve ever witnessed a child as a Guardian of the Grove.” Her face rose, each of the skeletons feeling her piercing gaze before she turned her gaze back to Cherry. “I am uncertain about allowing the LOVE demon into our forest… allow me to consult the council about this.” With a flash of white light, Cherry and the Judges were left standing in the forest, confused by what had just transpired.

“never been called a LOVE demon before. that’s a new one.” Red chuckled, shaking his skull and relaxing against the tree. “what’s so damn sacred about this place as opposed to the rest of the sacred grove anyways?”

“If I had to guess, it has something to do with this natural production of pure Life Magic.” Cherry waved her hand around, gesturing to the air around them. “This fog is so packed with Life Magic that I can almost taste it. I didn’t recognize it at first, but it’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“is this what life magic is like in its rawest form?” Sans asked, staring up at the canopy.

“I don’t know. I don’t remember that lesson very well, if at all. It may have been a lesson with Dr. Gaster during the previous timeline when I was attending Ayani High.”

“and you were unconscious for several weeks…”

The same flash of light that had consumed the cloaked woman returned, her body with it. “I have consulted with the council. They have given you permission to enter this sacred forest without trouble. Just know that we are watching you.” She offered her hand to Cherry. “Follow me. I shall guide you through the miasma and to the village.”

“About this fog… you referred to it as a miasma just now. What is it, and what’s its purpose?” Cherry asked as she was led through the dense magic fog.

“It is a natural defense mechanism against those with tainted souls and dark intent. I must admit, I am quite surprised that your ‘friend’ hasn’t collapsed from the exposure to the miasma.”

“That’s because there is no ill intent directed at this forest. He only wants to protect me and the others.”

“Perhaps.” The woman hummed to herself, continuing to guide the group through the magic fog. As they went deeper into the forest, the sounds of running water reached Cherry’s ears. “This is Dewdrop Canopy. This is a sacred place hidden away from normal souls.”

“pretty sure you can tell, but we aren’t exactly normal.” Stretch casually responded, sticking his hands into his short pockets.

“The fact you could even enter the miasma and not collapse from the exposure from it is evidence enough. That is why the council wishes to speak with you.” She turned her head towards Red, regarding him for a moment. “I am still unsure about that one.”

“It’s not like he’s got the friendliest face, but you just have to trust me on this.” Cherry plead.

“Despite my skepticism, I am obligated to trust you as a Sacred Guardian.”


	8. Sisters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zerrus knows that her friends are planning something.  
Cherry wants to know the truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooooo boy! A year since I wrote on this? Geez.

“so, you think that cherrypie and the other me’s are planning something? why do you think that?” Lust inquired, his hand idly petting down Zerrus’s hair and gently plucking the leaf sprouts that had budded. Burying her face into his chest slightly, she heaved a deep sigh.

“They want to find Dat. Dat’s been wandering the Sacred Grove for the better part of 3 years in search of his soulmate, only contacting me when he had the free time in his travels. Most times he would ask me about the connection I have between you guys. How it feels, what it looks like… those sort of questions.” She furrowed her brows for a moment, shaking her head. “I don’t know why they want to talk to him specifically, but I do know that it has something to do with me.”

Her mind continued running in circles. She knew that the reason for them wanting to find him has to do with her, but the reasons continued to escape her. She couldn’t tell if it was to ask him about her past or how their magic worked. If it had to do with her past, she wasn’t sure just what part of her past they were searching for answers about. She had relatively explained everything about herself. Her role as a Guardian, how she became a Royal Guard under the command of Queen Valerian, her genetic mutation at Seaside. The list goes on.

“zerrus… maybe they want to find some sort of solution to what happened to you?” She raised her head off his chest, cocking a brow at him. “think about it this way, from our perspective: why would your magic become tainted now? what triggered it?”

“I guess that makes some form of sense… I’m not sure either what-“ she interrupted herself narrowing her eyes and pushing away from Lust. “Who am I kidding… I do know what caused this.” She placed a hand on her chest, feeling the pull of her soul and scowling. Flashes of the faces she had slaughtered flickered across her vision. “It’s my fucking FAULT. If I had just… UGH!” She pushed off the couch and paced around the office. “Lust… if you were in my shoes… would you have done it?”

“done what, sweetheart?” He stood up from the couch, stopping Zerrus from her pacing. “your soul is sending mixed signals. are you still beating yourself up over what happened?”

“I’ve come to terms with THAT, Lust. But I know that some people wouldn’t see it the same way you or I do.”

“care to talk about it?”

“Not this time… not just with you.” She stepped back to glance at the doorway, consciously aware that Vertigo was still in the house. “Look Lust, I know I haven’t always been forthcoming with you, or ANY of the Sanses for that matter… but I think it’s time I made things right…” She reached her clawed hand outward, snapping her fingers and tearing a hole through time and space. “I know you still watch over this timeline. I need you to meet me in the living room in about an hour.” With a wave of her hand, she turned towards the monitor. “Tech, you know what to do. At precisely 4:48 you are to engage the system. Everything will be made clear then.” She turned towards Lust. “I’m tired of hiding. I’m tired of the pain. I just want everything to pass.” Grabbing her phone, she began firing off texts, her phone immediately pinging with responses. “I’m going to face everything now.”

“wow. i thought i’d seen it all through zerrus’s eyes. this place is something else entirely. it feels so disconnected from everything else.” Sans commented, whistling low and looking around at the large flora that decorated the forest and were repurposed into homes.

“Sans? Is that you?” asked a familiar voice, stepping from inside one of the violet flower huts and running to them. His orange hair and fluffed tail were neatly groomed, a set of burnt orange robes draped over his shoulders. “Cherry? What are you doing here, sweetie?” Dat knelt down to hug Cherry, she hesitantly returned the embrace. “Is something wrong? How did you guys find me?”

“managed to get zerrus to cough up your soul location. she didn’t want us comin’ here cause of the miasma. dat, we need some answers and only you got the info.” Red answered, shifting slightly closer to the group and away from the prying eyes of the druids.

“You need to know something Zerrus can’t tell you?”

“more like won’t.”

“What is it?”

“Dad… what happened on November 14th, 2012?” Dat flinched, standing up straight and eyeing the skeletons cautiously before glancing around their surroundings.

“Come inside… I’ll tell you what I know.” Stepping inside the flower hut, Dat held open the petal door as the group stepped inside, Stretch having to duck to enter the small doorway. “That date is the day that everything changed for Zerrus. I had known her for a little over a year when it happened. But, why do you want to know this from me and not her?”

“You know how mom gets. She picks and chooses what she tells you.”

“Hah. Don’t I know it.” Dat sat down in one of the chairs. “What specifically do you wanna know?”

“is it really that complicated?” Stretch asked, leaning against the petal door.

“You don’t even know just how complicated it is. I’m sure you already know some of what happened, but what exactly are you looking for?”

“Aunt Rayne.” Dat flinched harshly at Cherry’s casual answer. “That’s not a reassuring response. Is there bad blood between them?”

“That… would be an understatement.” Dat stood up, leaning over his desk and thumbing through the mess of documents. “You want to talk to them at the same time, don’t you?”

“doll’s been nothin’ but complicated for the past 3 years. us hearin’ that there’s another family member and that apparently their relationship is worse than me and boss’s is quite concernin’. just what the fuck happened between them for their last picture taken together to look so broken?” Red almost demanded, his patience wearing thin. Dat flicked a black book towards Cherry, her small hands snatching the book from the air and looking at the opened page.

“It’s not my position to say.” At the same time he responded, his phone pinged, as did Sans, Red, and Stretch’s phones. “Looks like you’re about to get your answers. She’s calling a meeting at her place in an hour.” He pocketed the phone and gestured to the book. “If you want to know the full story, call up Aunt Rayne. If she won’t come willingly, shortcut her there. It’s time she faced it anyways.”

“damn… for someone who was supposed to be her husband, yer pretty cold hearted.” Red leaned over Cherry’s shoulder to look at the address written in the book. “that looks like it’s in seaside.”

“seaside? well, muffet said she wanted to expand her wares out west. i’ll tag along with the kid and get her back in sanctuary. you two should go on ahead and meet zerrus at her place.”

“Stretch! Just a warning: I’m not sure that Rayne is exactly… friendly towards monsters. Be careful.”

With a half salute and a ping, Stretch and Cherry found themselves standing on a bright, sandy beach. Grabbing his phone and dialing the number written in the book, he stood idle until the phone picked up. “Hello?” spoke a confused female voice.

“is this rayne? sister to zerrus teknianu?” Stretch asked carefully. There was careful shuffling on the other side of the line before speaking again. “ma’am?”

“Yeah. Who is this? What does she want?” Stretch could hear the venom dripping from her words.

“i’m a… coworker of your sister’s. she isn’t doing well, health-wise. it is important that her close relatives see her while she is still coherent.”

“Fine. Does she still live in Merry Vale?”

“no. she moved to sanctuary. an escort close to your location can bring you to her home in an hour.”

“I’ll be ready by then.” The line went dead, Stretch staring at the phone and shaking his head.

“What is it?” Cherry asked, unsure how to approach the subject. From what she could sense, whatever Rayne had said or how she had said it had affected him negatively. He turned his gaze down to Cherry. “She didn’t react well, did she?”

“it’s almost like she doesn’t care about her own sister.” He pocketed the phone and then leaned against the banister of the boardwalk, looking out at the waves. “how can siblings hate each other like that? what happened between them for her own flesh and blood to almost completely disregard her?” Cherry sat down beside him, grabbing a seashell from the patch of sand on the boardwalk and looking at it. “she reminds me so much of myself and my brother at the same time. i can’t even being to think how anyone could hate her.”

“Mom is a lot like you Papyri and Sanses. A perfect balance of innocence and strength to do what is right. The ultimate judge of fate.” Cherry slipped off her pink shoes, picking them up in one hand and walking towards the shoreline, the waves licking at her feet as she approached the sea. “I can see why she is so conflicted with her actions, Stretch. She only wants to do what she feels and knows is the right thing to do, but at the same time she regrets the consequences of what has to be done.”

“you mean like the last reset.”

“Exactly.” She noticed that Stretch was seated a short distance from where the waves washed on the beach, casually smoking a cigarette while gazing at the sea as it sloshed back and forth. “We know that she had to do what was necessary. She had weighed the consequences of RESET carefully. If she didn’t do it, this wouldn’t be our reality now, a peaceful world with very little conflict. But she’s haunted by the memories of the people she had killed, who are alive now.”

“it can’t be an easy job for her… being the one soul in this world with the power to erase anyone permanently.” Taking a slow drag from the cigarette, he regarded the nearby monsters, humans, and pixies playing in the sand and the water. “i’d probably have gone insane by now knowing just how dangerous that power is.”

“I’m just waiting for that day, when she completely snaps and her emotions are thrown to the wind.” Cherry stepped further into the water, reaching down to grab a starfish that had washed too close to the shore. “The history of the Soul Renders is a sad one. I think she finally found out about it.”

“how do you know about it?”

“When Resurz had cut my arms. I was supposed to be the next Soul Render.” Cherry held the starfish up to her face to examine it for a moment before gently tossing the creature further in the water. “Soul Renders only run one per timeline. My birth was considered early because of a certain action Mom had done that prolonged her life.”

“what do you mean, kiddo?”

“Zerrus was supposed to die the first time Frisk reset. When the power of the timeline fell to her, she was supposed to die…” Cherry turned to face Stretch, a dark look in her sapphire blue eyes. “…to the Judge.”

“wait. wait just a damn minute. are you telling me that sans was supposed to kill her?”

“More than 3 years ago, before she discovered the ability to traverse universes. Yes.”

“why?” Stretch stood to his full height, alarmed by Cherry’s casual nature in discussing the potential demise of her mother. “why do you know all of this? how did you figure this out?”

“Tell me – have you felt pings coming from Zerrus’s soul about her being in distress? Usually around the same time every day?”

“she told sans and red that they were nightmares. nothing serious.”

“The nightmares ARE serious. Her transformation as a Changeling is proof of this. Her lifespan wasn’t supposed to go on further than a year give or take to accommodate the events of the timelines. Her power as the Soul Render is slowly corrupting her own mind. The visage of the Archangel is becoming dilapidated in her eyes.” Cherry stepped from the water, slipping back into her shoes. “Sooner or later, she’ll have to face the Archangel in battle to prove that her survival was not a fluke of the timelines. That her role as a Soul Render isn’t just as the ultimate judge of this timeline… but the key to ending all of the genocide timelines generated by that demon.”

“and she’s trying to avoid that…” Stretch surmised, scratching his chin and slowly walking towards a nearby restaurant, shaped like a giant octopus. “hungry?”

“We got some time to kill. Sure.”

After a short walk up the boardwalk, Stretch and Cherry sat down and placed their orders with a waitress wearing an octopus hat. As they sat and waited for their food, Stretch couldn’t shake the unease from his bones. “cherry… are you afraid of what zerrus might do?”

“Of course. The brief flashes of Soul Render history that I saw while hovering in limbo is not something I’d ever want anyone to go through.” She set her head down on the table, heaving a deep sigh. “Despite the fact that we both will at some point…”

“can you try to explain more about this history?”

“As much as I can…” The waitress returned to their table, setting down their food and scurrying off to the next set of customers. “The original guardians… the ones first bestowed by the Archangel…” Cherry swirled her spoon in her bowl of gummifruit gumbo, staring down at the food before she returned to looking at Stretch. “Their enemy wasn’t just the Guardian of Despair.”

“then… what was it?”

“The Guardian of Despair is just a fancy name for the Soul Renders. That Guardian wasn’t created by the Gloam Overlord, they volunteered.” Taking a bite of the gumbo, she flinched slightly when she caught the sight of Stretch’s fear. “Her concerns about the Overlord aren’t something to sneeze at. She has every right to be afraid of becoming his weapon. But I think that her fear is misplaced just a bit.”

“misplaced?! kid! you do realize that you just told me that the original guardian that caused a great calamity is directly related to the soul renders, right?”

“What separates her from Desi is that she holds a strong moral compass. She won’t allow herself to kill someone without reason. Desi was fed up with everything and didn’t care who was hurt in her goals. That’s why she became a tool to the Overlord. Mom won’t allow that to happen unless she is given a reason to. Even then, what reason would be strong enough in her eyes to equal genocide?”

Hearing this, Stretch relaxed visibly, rubbing at his brow and poking his fork at his plate of rainleaf dumplings. “fair point. so, if she isn’t supposed to be afraid of the overlord, who then?”

“If I had to place my bets, I’d say the Archangel.”

With a hum, Stretch reached for his phone to check the time. “we should go collect rayne, soon. how should we approach this?”

“She might not respond to a monster and some random little kid.” Cherry rest her head on her hand, staring at the sea for a moment. “Hey… what about my awakened form?”

“those robes? if she knows anything about the guardians, she might respond to you better than me. if i was in her shoes, i’d be hesitant to go somewhere with a random skeleton.” Nodding, Stretch gestured for Cherry to go ahead. “why not?”

Despite having been trapped in the antivoid for years, waiting at her own home felt like time crept at a snail’s pace. Zerrus knew that she had to finally come clean. Her fears can’t be held inside forever. Lust’s continuous meetings, Tech’s words about her failure to realize that those she calls friends would support her, it all added up. She couldn’t help but feel the stares coming from Error and the other Guardians. She was waiting for Cherry and Stretch to come back. Sans and Red had taken her by surprise when they teleported in her house with Dat in tow. The stares she was receiving from Dat alone was enough to make her question what was about to happen.

A text from her phone confirmed her suspicion when Stretch said only one word.

Prepare.

Zerrus wasn’t sure just what she was supposed to be prepared for until the sound of teleportation caught her gaze. They weren’t alone. Cherry and Stretch had teleported with one extra passenger. She didn’t recognize them at first, until her soul sent out a familiar pulse. Standing up from her seated position on the arm of the couch, she approached the person. “Sis?” she called out hesitantly.

“Should’ve figured it’d take a bunch of monsters to get you to be normal.” she spat venomously, Zerrus flinching back from the protective and angered pings coming from everyone’s souls. “You always WERE a freak.”

“Let me get this straight… you come into MY house… and immediately insult not only ME, but my friends?” She stepped closer to Rayne, her fists balled up and the bark that littered her skin crackling loudly. “Not even a ‘hello’ or an ‘are you okay’? Just immediate hatred?!” Flinging her hand backwards, she huffed loudly. “Typical! This is just fucking TYPICAL of you!”

“Typical of ME? If anyone is being the predictable one, IT’S YOU.” Rayne challenged back, getting closer to Zerrus. “You always caused trouble.”

Her eyelight blinking out at the words, Zerrus took a single step back to look directly in her eyes. “You can’t be fucking serious… STILL?”

“Yes, STILL. What did you expect? That I’d just forgive and forget like you? I’m not irresponsible like you.”

“IRRESPONSIBLE?!” Zerrus launched into the air, ready to slam her fist into Rayne’s cheek when she was snatched out of the air by strings. “PUT ME DOWN!”

“Look at you. You’re so pathetic that you need that creepy skeleton to hold you back. Get a fucking grip on yourself. Or do you want to end up killing them too, just like **him**?” A loud cracking sound echoed through the room, the Sanses immediately looking over to Zerrus. Her eyelight was completely extinguished and her red eye was contracted to a pinprick.

“How…? How can you possibly blame me?”

“zerrus?” Red called out, taking a cautious step towards her dangling body. “error, let her down.” The blue strings slowly uncoiled from her body, her form going slack and wobbling unsteadily as she stood still. “doll?”

“I knew you hated me since that day… but how can you blame me for actions I had nothing to do with?” She staggered forward, a light encasing her body until it splintered free. “I wasn’t responsible…” The splintered light began to take form, Tech’s body manifested as a light cloak around her body, his eyelight lined up with where hers would have been if it was still ignited. “**I didn’t kill him!**” Both of them shouted, Zerrus’s body shaking violently. “**I DIDN’T KILL OUR BROTHER!**”

Another loud crack echoed, Zerrus’s hollowed eye widening for a moment and Tech’s seemingly holographic body shooting off her and slamming into a wall. “shit! zerrus!” Tech shouted, scrabbling to reach her as she fell to the floor.

“Miss Zerrus?!” Faliko yelled, rushing forward with green magic coating her hands. “Miss Zerrus! Stay awake!”

With a loud snarl, Red stepped toward Rayne. “what the fuck were ya thinkin’?! what kind of sister are ya to blame the death of yer brother on your own sibling?!”

“Rayne…” Dat spoke softly, stepping forward with a mixture of light and dark magic coalescing around him. “You should leave.”

“What? I didn’t do anything! She’s just being a drama queen.” Rayne scoffed.

“her fuckin’ soul is breakin’, ya fuckin’ moron! get outta here before i make her an only child!” Red barked, a sharpened red bone summoned in his hand. Rayne glared, reaching behind her. “don’t even try it.”

“Monster or not, self-defense is entirely legal.”

“you really messed up here, rayne.” Tech stood up, his left eyelight completely blind and his bones rattling. “you blame her for the death of your brother. at this rate, you will be guilty of murdering your own sister.”

“You don’t know anything. Zerrus is known for causing trouble wherever she goes. If she hadn’t decided to be the good Samaritan, the Queen wouldn’t have been poisoned. And Jak would still be alive.”

“i know more than you realize.” Tech approached Rayne, grabbing the concealed blade behind her back and tossing it effortlessly behind him. “your sister is the only one in the universe that has had the patience to withstand the mental trauma of being a weapon. she has had to battle with her ingrained combat instincts that her soul once was trained with. i have seen through her eyes what happened 8 years ago.”

“Weapon? What are you talking about?”

“now you show concern? you realize how contradictory this is, right?”

“You don’t know ANYTHING!”

“if you’re not willing to listen, then it would be best if you cut all ties to her. it is clear to everyone here that you are incapable of forgiving the innocent.” With a callous wave of his hand, Rayne vanished from their sight, everyone bringing their attention back to Zerrus. “if anything, i’m the one to blame for his death.”

“the hell are ya talkin’ about? you didn’t kill him yourself, did ya?” Red shot back, kneeling by Zerrus’s unconscious form. Tech shook his head. “then ya got nothin’ to be sorry for. how’s she doin’, kid?”

Faliko shook her head. “I don’t know. I don’t think I can heal her soul. I…” She flinched, her magic receding from around Zerrus’s soul and back to her body. “I can’t help her.”

“hey, it’s alright. you did what you could, faliko.” Stretch soothed, ruffling her lilac hair and bending down to place a hand around Zerrus’s bark covered ear. “pretty sure the bark isn’t supposed to feel clammy.”

“i brought some help. eggert, anything you can do to help her?” Sans mumbled out, his hands shoved deep into his pockets and his grin downcast. The Changeling shambled forward, kneeling down and running his hands over the bark covered skin and gently thumbing around the flesh that surrounded it. When he pulled away from her, her stood up with a grim look drawn on his pale face.

“I do not know much about how soul bonds work. That would be Dr. Gaster’s expertise. But what I can tell you is that whatever is happening to her body is the equivalent of having one of your vital organs start to fail. Her body is shutting itself down.” He reached over and plucked a loose leaf bud from her head, a thick sap dripping from the end of its stem. “The leaf is showing signs of decay, similar to that of the leaves from a tree during the fall and winter months. This sap generates similar to that of blood. This level of viscosity is quite alarming, but not uncommon. Think of the sap as the blood of her bark.” Reaching down and grabbing her hand, Eggert drew out a small lancet pen from his lab coat. Looking back up at the Sanses and the Guardians, he held up the pen. “May I?”

“if you can explain this better to us and help her… do what you have to do.” Tech nodded, sitting down on the floor and bringing Zerrus’s head up from the floor and onto his lap.

Eggert moved her hand and pricked at the skin with the lancet pen, the blood from her skin gently flowing out from the pressure of him milking the blood out of the finger. “Her blood viscosity is normal. This is not normal for a Changeling showing signs of high Blood Sap viscosity.” He tucked the pen back into his pocket, wrapping the used lancet in a tissue and placing it on the nearby table. “What happened to damage her soul enough to cause a desync of her Changeling DNA?”

“Her sister.” Dat answered, scratching his ear and scowling. “I never should have told you guys where she lived if I knew something like this could have happened.”

Cherry stepped back, her eyes wide. Noticing her unusual reaction, Error leaned down to look directly in her eyes. “wHaT’s ThE mAtTeR? oF aLl ThE tHiNgS yOu’Ve SeEn, ThIs UnNeRvEs YoU?”

Placing a hand on her shoulder, Yonk shivered. “I think I know what you’re afraid of…” Narrowing his violet eyes on Tech his grip tightened slightly. “Tech, what happened in her past? What made her a weapon?”


End file.
